The Stryke Series Book 1: The Mistaken Prophecy
by StormKhaleesi
Summary: Ebony and Maleah Stryke are used to being outcasts. They grew up in the orphanage, and always stuck together. On Ebony's 12th birthday, a surprising attack leads them to camp Half-Blood. They arrive in time for the reveal of a new prophecy, one that could put everyone at Camp in danger. But secrets are hidden in the shadows and it's impossible to know who or what to trust.
1. Prologue

**Before I start this fic, I have a few things to point out. So for the purpose of this story, we're just going to completely forget about the trails of Apollo. Mostly because I didn't read those books yet, and I don't think that storyline fits in well with where I'm going with this story.**

 **I tried really hard to make sure the timeline I have set up will work for this story. There will probably be some errors here and there in regards to what age characters are supposed to be but it's whatever. The age of the characters isn't crucial to this story like it was in the PJO series, where the entire prophecy centered around him turning 16. The important thing is I tried to make it work so there's that.**

 **This story centers around two main OC's. However, because we all know and love the main characters from PJO and HOO so much, I've made a handful of them central to this story as well. So while I do introduce a few side characters here and there, the story will mainly focus on my two OC's, Percy, and a few of the others from HOO. When you read and learn more about the OC's, you'll understand why I did it this way. Also important to note that I didn't want to introduce and develop too many characters, since I would like to get right into the action! Ebony (my OC) and Percy are the two main characters of this entire series. I'm not using anyone else's POV (unless it's a prologue/epilogue). I'm trying to keep these fics focused on what is happening, not be confusing for the reader trying to follow too many side stories here and there.**

 **And a few quick reminders before I start the prologue**

 **If you enjoy this fic and would love to help me with editing/making things flow, definitely let me know! I'm not struggling with ideas, but I do struggle with having enough time. And having someone to bounce ideas off of and to help me edit would be awesome! If you're interested, feel free to PM me!**

 **Writing fanfic is super time consuming. It's VERY important to me, as an ammy writer who does it for the pure fun of it, to get feedback. Likes and reviews are amazing. Please don't throw hate my way but I do love constructive criticism.**

 **Sidenote, Annabeth and Percy will not be going to New Rome for college because that's bullshit. They will be staying in New York and be a central part of Camp Half Blood.**

 **And finally: ENJOY IT! I know that a ton of fans of the series were completely let down by the terrible-ness that was Blood of Olympus. Percy deserves to be a hero, the PTSD from tarturus, and his dark side all deserve a chance to be explored, which is what I'm doing in this fic. I swear Percy will get his moment(s) in the spotlight that he should have had in BOO in this fic. My hatred of that book kind of inspired this fic. And now, finally, here is the (admittedly pretty short) prologue!**

* * *

Grey clouds hung heavy over the city. A thick fog obscured the skyscrapers that seemed to disappear into the sky. Traffic was moving slowly, and a steady drizzle added to the scene. The world looked like it had been edited into greyscale. There was something calming about the dreary fall atmosphere.

The man sat at his desk in the office. His customer still hadn't left. They had been here for nearly two hours, and the individual was still asking questions. Hadn't he fulfilled his job?

"Where did you find it?"

He sighed and leaned back in his chair. More questions. This is why he hardly did business deals.

"A gift. From my mother. Surely you should know this?"

"Yes, yes, I know it was a gift." The individual was leafing through the book, not bothering to make eye contact as they spoke, "But how did you deserve such a gift?"

He clenched his fists to his sides. If only they knew what he was capable of! But no. He was done with that life. He had moved on from his mistakes. It was better to lay low. If he muttered a single spell more he may end up in the Fields of Punishment when his death came. And that was not an option.

"I didn't deserve it." He muttered, picking his words carefully, "I made a deal for it."

"What kind of deal?"

"None of your business." he snapped instantly. This was getting too personal for him. If they could just take the book and leave... take the temptation away from him. "You paid me already, so why are you still here? You paid me an hour ago, then proceeded to question me, over and over again. Just take the damn book and leave. And please for the love of the gods, never come back."

The "customer", if they could still be called that, turned the book over in their hand. A deep frown was still etched on their face. "And you're positive that this spell will work?"

The older man had to resist the urge to reply with a sarcastic comment. How dare this woman question him? She knew exactly who he was. Only one of the greatest magicians alive. For hades sake, he doubted that _anyone_ in the known world had the spell he had just given to her. She had paid him well for it, and he had it memorized, so it wasn't a loss per say... Giving up the book wasn't hard. But having his skills questioned? That was taking it too far.

"Who do you think you are, to question my honesty and my skills? You seeked me out, don't forget." he snapped.

"And how do I know that you're not some silly fraud, pretending to be all high and mighty?" she said, laughter in her voice.

Something inside of him cracked. Too far. The logical part of his brain told hims he was doing this to get a reaction from him. But he didn't care for logic. Nobody ever called him fake. "You listen here." He began, standing up in a fury. He could feel the anger building inside of him. His fists clenched tighter to his side; his face twisted in a snarl. This kind of behavior is what had gotten him in troubleThe urge to curse this woman was so strong, and she seemed to know it. She sat back in her chair, not at all concerned about his growing rage. For some reason that made him even angrier.

He opened his palm, a spell on the tip of his lips, when it happened. A blast of energy slammed into his chest. The older man was thrown backwards, his body slamming into the wall. Pain rushed through him as he crashed to the ground. He hadn't been in a fight, or injured for that matter, for many years. He tried to push his way to his feet, but the blast had sapped his energy. It was just too much, and after a few more moments of struggling he finally lay limp on the ground. This day could not be going any worse.

He heard footsteps and dared to look up. The woman stood above him. Up close, he realized how young she was. Not a woman at all. Probably still a girl in high school. Or possibly college. Maybe she was even a god in disguise. But it didn't matter. He knew the look on her face. Knew what was about to happen. She bent down, that cocky smile still plastered on her face.

"Thank you for the book. It has everything I could ever want in it." She paused and pulled the book into her hand. "I'm sorry about this. You could be very helpful in the future. But for now..."

He felt the paralysis grip him, freezing his lungs in place as she cast the magic over him.

"For now, I have a little hell to raise."


	2. I Make a Proper Entrance

**All right, Chapter one, here we go!**

 **Not a lot to say here except that I'll try to update 1-2X a week. And like the book series, it'll be five books. I already have the first one all planned out and kind of outlined, so it's just a matter of me actually getting my shit together and typing my thoughts out.**

 **Also shout out to Mhjx29 for the review! I love getting reviews and they mean a lot to me, so thanks!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: Ebony**

"Happy birthday!" my sister sang as she came in the room, holding a cupcake in her hands. If it could even be called a room… the place was tiny. Inside the complex, it was a small square section. At least it was pretty private. But there still wasn't much space to move around in. A single bed, and one drawer. One lamp. Not a lot of room to keep my nonexistent possessions.

I guess I should explain… My sister and I were orphans. I don't really remember our dad, and our mom was… well not around. I had been just 2 years old when he died. Mel had been six. She would tell me stories about him. But I couldn't relate. For most of my life, all I knew was this stupid orphanage. But my sister took care of me. Or she tried at least. Sometimes she could be bossy and overbearing. When I was 10 years old, in middle school, I really wanted to be a part of the adopt-a-child program (I honestly don't remember what the organization was called but that was the gist of it) and go live with a family for a few months. I was so excited for it. A chance to finally make some friends and have a real family. My sister was great, but it would have been nice to have parents. But she refused, and we were moving again. Mel took some money we had saved up and we went to downtown New York.

Moving was never an issue for us though. We always stayed in New York, just bounced from city to city. Even though Mel was typically a popular student at school, neither of us had good friends. Or in my case, any friends at all. It didn't help that we stood out a mile. We were both short, and had "exotic" looks. With our tanned skin, high cheekbones, almond shaped eyes, and dark hair. My dads side of the family had come over to America from Egypt. And we definitely looked the part. Mel was built like a supermodel. She had long limbs, beautiful light brown eyes, and her hair was the perfect shade of brown. I'm pretty sure if she wore eyeliner and a kalisiris, people would call her Cleopatra.

Then there was me…. The first problem is that I'm just turning 12, and I'm already a freshman in high school. The second problem is that I'm nothing like my sister. My hair is pitch black and never really cooperates with me. So I kind of gave up on it and always keep it pulled up in a ponytail. My eyes are a bright green. I think they're gorgeous, but other people think that they are almost out of place with how the rest of me looks. I'm also broad-shouldered and more muscular than my sister. But probably my personality is what throws people off the most. I'm sarcastic, brutally honest, and just the slightest bit over competitive. But I refuse to change to make others like me, so here I am. Friendless for life.

Anyway, back to my birthday.

"Hey! You know my birthday is technically tomorrow so this is a bit early" I greeted Mel, trying to keep the annoyance from creeping into my voice. I had told her I didn't want to celebrate. I was turning twelve, and we both knew what that meant.

She sat down on the bed next to me. "Oh stop complaining and make a wish!"

"There's no candle."

"Oh shut up and make a wish Ed."

I rolled my eyes and looked at the cupcake. Fine. I thought. I wish that we don't have to go to that stupid camp. Then I took a deep breath and made a huge show of blowing out my invisible candles. "Happy?"

She smiled and handed me a fork. "Very." We ate in silence. This was how it was. We were close, but we never knew what to say around each other. We had an awkward dynamic going.

As the silence dragged on I finally got up the courage, "So are we leaving tonight?"

My sister sighed and ran her hand through her hair. I knew she hated this topic. My birthday was on October 13th, I was born on a Friday the 13th. I remember how, when I was younger, Mel would always tell me that Friday the 13th was a lucky day to be born on. Then I went to public schools, and learned about all the superstitions surrounding that day. And frankly, with the way my life was going, I definitely believed in bad luck. Basically, I'm pretty sure I'm cursed and doomed to a crappy life. And now came the big birthday. I was turning 12….. the same age that most of my kind had to go into hiding. It was one thing for one demigod to stay hidden after her 12th birthday. But now there were two powerful half-bloods in the same place.

Oh did I not mention this? My sister and I have always known. Our mom was an incredibly powerful goddess. And our dad was the grandson of Nike. So we had a lot of god-blood (is that a thing?) running through our veins. We were rarely attacked though. Not many monsters dared to anger our mom.

"I was thinking tomorrow." Mel finally said. I just nodded. The last thing I wanted to do was go to Camp Half-Blood. It would be just another place where I was an outcast. Except for the fact that those at the camp would probably hate me and Mel once they found out about our parentage.

"I guess tomorrow then." I said back, turning away so that she couldn't see the worry on my face. The last thing I wanted was to be reminded how much of freak I was. I guess I didn't hide my emotions very well, because he reached over and put her arm over my shoulders.

"Everything will be okay." She tried to assure me. "I haven't let you down yet and I never plan on it.

I had to give it to Maleah. She really had been there for me my entire life. Caring for me after our parents died, being a friend when I never had any my own age, and teaching me about our past and our heritage. I was very lucky to have her. Turning my head, I flashed a smile back at her, "I'll hold you to that one sis."

I lay back on my bed as Mel walked out, flipping the light off as she went. Then my smile instantly faded away. Tomorrow everything would change. And I wasn't ready for that. I was down right terrified. They would find out what we were capable of. And then they would never trust us again. Why couldn't we just stay together? Demigods could make it on their own, especially when they're powerful enough to. I took one last look around my darkened room. I never thought I would be sad to leave this place. But now, all I wanted was to stay here forever and make it my home.

* * *

For some reason, sleep wouldn't come. It was a cold and cloudy night. The small window in my room let in the moonlight when it shone from behind the clouds. Cars drove by in the distance and the wind howled against the orphanage. The random bursts of silver cast shadows along the wall. It was well in the night when I finally dozed off. But it felt like I had barely closed my eyes when a loud thud against the wall woke me up again. I rolled over with a groan and looked at the clock. 5:30 AM. The sun wouldn't come up for another hour, at least. Not giving another thought to the bang, it was probably just something flowing around in the wind, I flipped over on my other side. All I wanted was to get some sleep before going off to camp in the morning. As soon as my head touched the pillow, there was another loud thud, louder than the first. That's when I noticed something that sent a chill down my side. The sound was coming from the wall to my right. Whatever was banging against the wall was already inside. And trying to break into my room.

"Are you kidding me?" I muttered. I started to reach for the lamp, before I realized what a terrible idea that would be. I wanted to call for help, but that could just alert the monster to my presence. I don't know how I knew it was some kind of creature from Tarturus, but I could feel it. Maleah always jokingly called it our "spider sense". For some reason, both of us were able to detect when monsters were nearby. It was part of the reason why she was 16 and still able to live away from Camp. I closed my eyes for a moment, gathering my thoughts. Stupid ADHD, always making me think about random stuff that didn't apply to the situations I was in. Sometimes being a demigod really sucked.

The bangs against the wall stopped, and I heard a scratching sound. Whatever was out there was trying to find a different way in. This was my chance. I slowly slid off my bed, landing lightly on the ground. Until I found out what I was dealing with, there wasn't anything I could do. I creeped towards the front of the room, trying to stay light on my feet. Thankfully I had excellent night vision, and was able to move quickly and quietly towards the door. I reached towards the handle, when the creature came crashing through the wall.

My first thought was that I really didn't want to fight it. It was a beautiful gryphon. The creature had a sleek lion body, the perfect shade of gold. The feathers sprouting around it's chest and neck were black in color, but still magnificent. The front legs were covered in white feathers, and sported yellow feet with pitch black talons. A bright yellow beak completed the creatures look. It was wicked sharp. The animal shrieked, flexing large 3" talons that shredded through the wooden floor. It's tail lashed back and forth, knocking over my dresser.

I felt frozen as I looked into his golden eyes. This wasn't fair. Why did such a beautiful monster have to attack me? I hated that monsters fascinated me so much. Some were just so gorgeous and incredible. The little voice in the back of my mind told me that it didn't make sense. Your scent grew stronger to monsters the older you got. And it also grew stronger when you know who you are. But just a couple hours after officially turning 12? I was pretty sure that it didn't work THAT quickly. But I didn't really have the time to deal with that.

It let out another screech, rearing up in the air like a horse. The moonlight disappeared behind a cloud once more. I could see the outline of the beast, and it's glowing eyes locked on me. It lowered down to the ground, and crouched like a cat preparing to pounce. It took a step forwards, eyes never leaving mine. The gryphon seemed hesitant to attack, shuffling a step forward before backing up. I let go of the door handle and turned my entire body around to face it. A standoff.

"You know who I am don't you?" I said curtly, trying to put as much confidence into my voice as I could. I drew my shoulders back, trying to look taller and more imposing. "Have you heard the stories?"

We continued to stare each other down, "Don't you know what I am, what I can do? Everyone knows what happened two years ago. You really think you can take me on?"

* * *

 **2 Years Ago**

 _I froze in shock as the animal appeared in front of me. It was a wolf. A wild wolf, in New York? We lived at the edge of a national forest but still…. Wolves didn't live in New York anymore. There had been sightings here and there, but never inside the city in daylight. All my instincts told me to follow her. So I did. At this time, we had lived so close to the school that Mel trusted me to walk home by myself when I got detention… which was pretty often. Today was one of those days. I could only imagine how scared and mad my sister would be if I was late coming home, but I couldn't ignore this. Something was happening. Some part of me knew that this was more important than going home and doing homework._

 _She led me straight out of town and into the woods. Part of the reason why I was following her was because she was such a beautiful animal. I always loved animals. They understood me, and actually got along with me. Unlike people. The wolf was a light grey, that darkened around her nose, ears, and haunches. She had amber eyes and a jet black nose. I continued to jog after her, darting in and out of the trees. I don't know why, but I didn't question how I was able to keep up with her. She made a sharp turn ahead of me, and plunged through a cluster of bushes. I followed her without a second thought, thorns tugging at my clothes. I stepped out into a large hollow._

 _What I saw at the bottom made my heart stop. It was another wolf. Huge, nearly twice the size of the female that had led me into the woods. It's paws were as big as my face. The animal lay on its side on the ground. He was a solid gray all over his body, with the same amber eyes as the smaller female. His breath was coming in ragged gasps. The she-wolf looked at me and let out a long whine. Then she turned and nudged the larger wolf. I inched closer, trying to ignore those large teeth baring over at me. What I saw made my heart stop._

 _Shiny silver ran around the animal's neck. It dug deep into his fur, slicing into the skin underneath. It was some sort of snare trap. It had slammed around his neck. I realized that I was frozen in horror. The wolf was so big and muscular that the snare wasn't suffocating him… yet. But in time it would. I had to free him._

 _I took a few cautious steps towards him. His amber eyes met my green ones. But he didn't growl or snarl. I took a deep breath and moved even closer. I laid my hand on his neck, and I couldn't help but be amazed. I was petting a wolf!_

 _Focus. I told myself. I moved my hand to the snare and followed it down. The long wire had some sort of attachment, holding it tight and secure around the animals neck. I continued to follow the long strand. It was anchored tightly to a tree just a couple feet away. The long strand was stretched taught, and I could tell that the wolf had been struggling to free himself. Maybe if I could remove the cord, it would loosen the tension in the wire that was around his neck. Then i could just slide the loose ring off his neck._

 _My hands were trembling as I worked on the knot. I knew it was crucial that I moved quickly. If only I had more control over my fear. But it wasn't fear, not really. I wasn't scared for myself. I was scared of failing. "Focus." I said. Out loud this time._

 _It was a long process, too long, but I finally freed the wire from the tree. Then I slowly reached out and grabbed the loosened wire. The wolf growled softly, but I couldn't stop now. I took a deep breath and dragged it over his head. As soon as I had the loop in my hands, I threw as far away from me as possible. And the wolf stood up. He was massive, almost twice the size of the one that had brought me here. Blood dripped off of his neck, but I could tell he still had plenty of strength left in him. His lips bared in a snarl, and his hackles raised. Now, real fear washed over me. What if, after I had just saved him, this wolf decided to kill me?_

 _But he made no move towards me. The seconds stretched into minutes, and he began to relax. His fur lay down on his back. His posture relaxed. And then he stepped forward. Nervously, i stumbled back. I took a few more steps before I ran into a tree. He continued his approach, stopping just a foot away from me. And then, miraculously he bowed his head._

 _"Forgive me." I nearly jumped out of my skin when I heard the voice in my head. "This is hard to do. Thank you. You saved my life." The younger wolf came running up, and before I could react, rubbed her face against my hands. "My daughter took a liking to you long ago." He continued, "I will always be indebted to you. I must rest now. She will come soon." He lay down in a patch of grass and rested his head on his paws._

 _I didn't know how to respond, so I just nodded. Then I reached my hand out slowly and stroked my hands through the female's fur. She wagged her tail, like your everyday dogs would, before laying down next to me. I smiled and sat down next to her, continuing to pet and play with her. A small part of my head was telling me to leave, but I didn't want to. I had an idea who he was talking about, but i wanted to be sure. Sighing, I leaned back against the tree. The sun was warm on my back, and I dozed off, guarded by a wolf in the middle of the woods._

* * *

 _That was how they found us. Artemis and her hunters. I knew it was them right away, thanks to my extensive research on Greek mythology. The girl who stepped forward, with the auburn hair and silver-yellow eyes, and to be the goddess herself. She approached the wolves and bent down. After a few moments, the two wolves sprinted away through the woods. The smaller one turned back to me, and let out a little whine, before following the one I had rescued. Then Artemis turned to me._

 _"Thank you." she said, and I was surprised to see tears glistening in her eyes, "I am…"_

 _"The Lady Artemis, goddess of the hunt and the moon, and wild animals." I interrupted, overjoyed to be meeting my favorite goddess._

 _Almost instantly, I realized how rude that could have come off as. I covered my mouth with a gasp. A couple of the hunters laughed in the background._

 _"I was going to say I am forever grateful for what you have done today." She fixed me with her piercing eyes, "But yes. I am Artemis."_

 _I tried not to be too in awe of her, but come on! I loved animals, and the wild. I hated people, which included boys, so she was definitely my favorite goddess. If only she could have been my mother instead of… Well I just knew she would have been a much better parent than what I had. Hell, I had never even met my mother. She wasn't exactly a cuddly mom type._

 _Artemis turned and said something to her hunters before addressing me again, "I'm going to call your sister here. She's probably very worried."_

 _I just nodded and she turned and ran off, two girls going with her. One of the girls looked at me. She looked to be my age. But I could tell she was much older than I was. She didn't say anything, just handed me a piece of paper. It was a pamphlet, like one of those advertising theme park or a zoo. As I flipped through it, all of my research was confirmed. Immortality, eternity hunting with Artemis, swearing off boys… And a chance to be part of a family. A true family. My sister was great, but she was all I had. I wanted more than that. I wanted friends, I wanted a mentor, I wanted purpose._

 _It seemed like only a minute had passed when Artemis came back. My sister was right beside her. As soon as Mel saw me, she ran over to me, pulling me into a hug. " What the hell were you thinking?!" she cried, "You didn't come back! I was searching everywhere for you, i thought something had gotten you, or a monster had taken you away, or" her voice broke off and she hugged me tighter._

 _"I'm fine Mel, really I am." I said, "The hunters found me and then Artemis came and…."_

 _I didn't get a chance to finish. Mel let go of me and turned to face the hunters and the Lady Artemis. I couldn't see her face from where I stood, but I could tell by her posture that she wasn't happy. She didn't like the gods, or want anything to do with them. She always told me that we were going to try living our lives away from their influence. So the fact that I was here, talking with Artemis herself, didn't sit well with my sister. But she didn't address Artemis. Instead, Maleah turned to the girl with silver in her hair. The way she stood by Artemis' side, I was guessing she was the second in command._

 _"And what dreams," she said that word like it had a bad taste in her mouth, "Have you been filling her head with? Did you seek her out just to recruit her? Are you trying to steal my best friend away from me?" Her voice was cold, and I was amazed at how mad she was._

 _Before the girl could reply, I interrupted, "Maleah please…. I was talking to them. It was my idea. I started talking to them and then I learned about the hunt and…." I swallowed, looking at the ground, "And I think I want to join."_

 _Mel looked at me, her eyes full of pain, then she addressed the auburn haired girl, "My Lady, please. She's all I have and I'm all that she has. Please don't make her join."_

 _"She's not making me do anything." I snapped, any misgivings I had vanishing in the wind. My sister meant well but sometimes she was overbearing. It was like she wanted to control every aspect of my life. "Artemis, I wish to join your hunt. I don't want this life, bouncing around homes and never having friends. I wish to make a new family, with you and your sisters. This is what I want, and I am ready to join. Right here. Right now." I finished, looking up at her with a fierce gleam in my eyes._

 _My heart shattered when I saw Artemis shaking her head, a sad smile breaking over her face. "I'm sorry. You have done me such a great service, but I can't allow you into the hunt. You are only 9, going on 10. That is too young for one to join me."_

 _I wanted to cry. It wasn't fair! The Lady Artemis herself was young, and there were at least a couple girls around 10 in her hunt. I knew that she was lying to me. Trying to protect me from something. The rational part of my brain told me to ask why, but my ADHD interrupted._

 _"That's wrong." I snapped at her._

 _Maleah grabbed my arm, her eyes wide in shock. "You can't talk to a goddess like that!" she gasped softly._

 _I shrugged her off. "You have girls, as young as 10, in your hunt. You just told me I did you a great service? Why can't I join? I don't care for boys, and I don't care for my mom. Give me a chance to prove myself! To use my powers for good. Please Artemis, I just want to…."_

 _"To escape your destiny?" One of the hunters interrupted._

 _I turned to look at her. It was the same one that my sister had been addressing. She was the one with the circlet. Like all the hunters, she wore camo pants, a white shirt, and a silver parka. But her spiky hair, and black nirvana shirt made her stand out from the rest._

 _"It is not the time for that." Artemis stepped forward, nodding lightly to the other girl. "Perhaps we should talk privately?"_

 _I don't why, but that bugged me. Escape my destiny? I wasn't a coward. I didn't even know what my stupid destiny was supposed to be. And I felt the normal stubbornness building inside of me. Whatever the child-goddess had to say to me, she could say in front of everyone._

 _I crossed my arms and met her gaze. I saw Mel roll her eyes and rub her hand against her forehead. She usually did that when she was about to yell at me, so I'm guessing I did something that had angered her. I raised my eyebrows at her, but Mel just shook her head. She pointed back at Artemis as if to say, "This is your conversation, not mine. You got into this, so now get yourself out of it."_

 _"I don't understand," I said finally, after taking a few moments to regroup my thoughts. "I heard that you accepted anyone, regardless of their background."_

 _"I do." She leaned forward and put her hand on my shoulder, "But some things can not be avoided. There are great prophecies out there, things that are coming to light. The only thing that the fates know is that you, AND you're sister are at the center of them. I can not interfere with the fates. Whatever your destiny is, you must embrace and accept it."_

 _"But I…." I tried to cut in, but she talked over me._

 _"You aren't trying to escape. Believe me, I know. If you were the kind to run and hide, Grey and his daughter wouldn't be alive right now."_

 _I closed my eyes, trying to keep the tears from falling. This wasn't fair at all. Whatever my destiny was, I didn't want it._

 _"You have still done me a great service however." She reached forward and gently lifted my chin, allowing me to meet her eyes. The grey pack has been sacred to me for so many centuries. The fates will not allow you to join my hunt. But I can still give you a gift."_

 _I hesitated, remembering the way Grey had spoken to me in my mind. An idea began to spark inside of me, "A-any wish?" I stuttered out._

 _"Within reason, of course."_

 _"Can I transform into any animal that I choose?"_

 _Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Maleah roll her eyes. But Artemis just nodded. "Int is a large gift, and also a burden. But there are three fates, three sons of Kronos, three furies, do you understand?"_

 _"I can only pick three then?"_

 _"Yes."_

 _"Thank you Artemis." I shut my eyes, thinking about what creatures inspired me. What creatures would be useful for a fight. It wasn't a hard decision. I would never have to use my mom's power if I did this right. "Okay, I choose…."_

* * *

A flicker in the corner of my eye dragged me back to reality. I guess the monster really thought he could try his luck. It lunged at me slashing with his claws. I jumped backwards, away from the door, and backed up into the corner of the room. Stupid! I had left my knife under my pillow! The gryphon lunged again. I dove down and rolled straight under it's belly, narrowly avoiding the slashing talons.

I came to my feet near the head of my bed. The gryphon let out another unearthly shriek and whipped it's head around to look at me. Honestly, I was surprised no one had come bursting into the room yet. We were making enough racket to wake up half of New York. Reaching under my pillow, I pulled out my knife. It was about 9 inches long, and wicked sharp. Slightly curved at the end, and serrated in the middle. The handle was heavy leather, and the blade itself was black. Maleah had gifted it to me on my seventh birthday. Just holding it in my hand made me feel stronger and ready for a fight.

I held the knife out in front of me, hoping that the monster would just fly away. Unfortunately chose that exact moment to slam the door open.

She took one look at it, before slashing at it with her sword. It was almost identical to my knife. Black blade, leather handle, except it was about 3 feet long. It was also leaf-shaped, in typical green fashion. The gryphon backed up and Mel turned towards me in a flash.

"Come on we have to go."

"Where?"

"Just outside, come on."

"But…" I broke off looking back at my dresser. I had very very few possessions. But some of them were important in there. And the thought of leaving them was leaving a bitter taste in my mouth.

"We have to go. Now." She grabbed my arm and dragged me out. I stumbled over my feet as I sprinted behind her, casting glances over my shoulder as I went. The animal had recovered quickly, and was gaining ground behind us. Maleah poured on another burst of speed, tightening her grip on my arm. We reached the door just in time. She yanked it open and slammed it shut. Looking around wildly, I tried to find something, anything, that we could shove in the door to trap it inside.

I grabbed one of the long bricks that lined the sidewalk, pulling it out of the dirt. The landscaping people were going to be furious about this. "Here!"

She didn't say anything, just grabbed it out of my hand and wedged it between the door handles. A loud thud, followed by yet another angry shriek told us we had been successful. At least for now.

BANG. The door shook violently.

I backed up nervously. It wasn't going to hold him for long.

"Listen to me." I turned around, Mel was putting her sword away and speaking in her mom voice. "You have to fly us out of here. Right now. I'll direct you to camp. But you have to get us out of here. Can you do that?"

I hesitated. Camp. The moment was here. "We can't just leave the mortals alone in there." I whispered softly, flinching slightly as the door shook once more.

"They're not after the mortals. They're after us."

"But what if it gives up on chasing us?"

"EBONY!"

"I'm just saying…"

"We're leaving. Now. I'm not going to stand by and watch my little sister get hurt. I won't do it. I can't do it." her voice cracked, "Please, you know nothing can catch you. You can get us safely to camp. I believe in you."

I gulped. I wasn't scared of flying us there. I was just scared of what waited for me there. Finally I nodded, and felt the familiar tingling through my skin. My limbs extended, scales growing across them and they grew thicker. Claws grew out, digging into the ground. My vision, hearing, and scent sharpened and my cells continued to expand. Wings came out from my back, huge pitch black wings. I let out a loud roar as my transformation completed.

Maleah thankfully didn't comment. I leaned my front legs down, allowing her to climb on my back. Hopefully the mist was nice and strong, I could imagine what people would say if they saw a girl riding a dragon through New York City.

As soon as Mel was holding on, I took off into the air. I heard wings flapping behind me, and I knew the gryphon had broken free. But my sister was right about one thing. Nothing could catch me in the air. I spread out my wings and soared higher, being careful not to get too high where the air was thin. Then I folded my wings and plunged towards the earth, gaining speed.

"Left left, towards the beach!" Maleah yelled over the howling wind. I tilted sharply, noticing that my pursuer had been lost already. Flying was the most natural thing. The feeling of the wind flowing over my scales, watching the ground rush by, nothing was better than this. I could turn on a dime, fly faster than anything on the planet. I don't know how but my dragon senses told me exactly how fast I was going. I knew how far we had traveled, which direction we were going, and I could see the smallest of creatures scurrying around on the ground, thousands of feet below me. It felt so perfect. Sometimes I wondered if I was supposed to be born a dragon.

Following my sister's instructions, I circled around and landed on a hill. A pine tree was at the top, with a golden blanket of some kind shimmering in the branches. Next to the pine tree, another dragon was standing guard. He was much bigger than I was, with shimmering golden scales, and legs bigger than tree trunks.

"We go past the tree, and we're there."

I nodded, and was about to transform back into a human when I saw it. The gryphon. It was a ways off, but it would be here before we got to the top of the hill. An idea formed in my mind. "You said monsters couldn't pass into the camp right?"

"Yes…" Mel said hesitantly, following my gaze. "Oh no, you're not going to?"

"Get past the borders! I'll distract it!"

"Eddie!" she yelled, but I had already spread my wings an taken off into the air. The gryphon instantly switched it's stare, recognizing me as the bigger threat.

"Come and get me." I growled, letting out a burst of fire. It cried in shock, and dodged out of the way. We continued this game. I darted in, and he lashed out in frustration. Never getting a scratch on me. I made sure that I wasn't getting close enough to harm him either. All I had to do was keep him distracted. After a few more minutes, I finally paused and hovered in the air. The animal had all but forgotten about Maleah. All of his attention as focused on me. His eyes met mine and they looked murderous. Nothing like the wide, intelligent eyes I had seen earlier. If my goal was to piss him off, I had done a brilliant job. With a quick glance down, I saw that Mel was at the top of the hill.

She waved frantically at me before stepping over the border. I let out one more stream of fire before I turned and flew, straight over the hill, past the golden dragon, and into the valley. We were here. I folded my wings and started to head towards the ground. That was when pain erupted in my shoulder. Then another shock as something slammed into my wing. And suddenly I wasn't flying, I was falling. Plummeting straight towards the ground. I tried desperately to regain control, knowing that it was a lost cause. And then I slammed into the ground. My head exploded in pain. I tried to scramble to my feet, but the pounding was too much. I fell back, my body shrinking back into it's normal form. I saw people running towards me, but before I could say anything, a wave of black rushed over my eyes. I gave up fighting, and faded into the darkness.

* * *

 **Wow this took longer than expected. And the chapter was also longer than I was planning. First chapters are always hard. Hopefully middle/end of next week, chapter 2 will be out! As always, reviews are appreciated!**


	3. I Make a New Friend

**Sorry this took so long, I promise to do two chapters this week since i took forever!**

 **Chapter 2: Percy**

 **I Make a New Friend**

The entire world felt like it was on fire, but everything was dark. I looked around, feeling the familiar sense of dread settle over me. A reddish-black hue settled over the earth. And here I was, at the edge of the pit that wouldn't leave me alone. Part of me knew that this was just a dream. The exact same one I had been having for the past few months. But that didn't make it any less terrifying.

I still didn't know if it was the horrors from Tartarus coming back to haunt me, or if I was truly having a dream that warned me of dangers to come. It had been like this since August. Chiron had no answers, but he was very clearly concerned. Demigod dreams were common, PTSD was common, but distinguishing between the two? Near impossible.

The voice echoed in my head. The sound of knives grating over stone. Cold, cruel, filled with malice. A voice that was both familiar and unknowing. But nothing about it made sense. I did not sacrifice so much and lose my friends to have him return.

Two sets of golden eyes gleamed at me.

A loud yell of warning jarred me awake. I cursed under my breath, furious to be woken right before the titan had spoken. Sure It was usually some taunting or word spoken too muffled for me to hear, but the more I heard it, the higher the possibility of me understanding it would be. Or at least, that's what Annabeth had told me. Still slightly peeved that some stupid monster had chosen this exact moment to attack the camp, I sighed and sat up on my bed. Another yell, and this time I distinctly heard the word "breech". At least this was an urgent matter. I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes and grabbed riptide, shoving it in my pocket. Even though I still wasn't sure what was going on, a warning was a a warning. I didn't need to ask questions to know that they may need my help. I stumbled outside my cabin, pulling a jacket on, and still trying to blink the sleep out of my eyes. It was a cold morning, and a heavy mist lay over the hills. The sun was starting to peak over the horizon. At first glance, everything looked fine. But after so many years, I knew to not trust outward appearances. Something was wrong.

I jogged forward to join a group of campers, all staring up at the sky. I felt a twinge of annoyance when i saw Jason standing out there. I wish I could say I didn't resent him. Jason was pretty cool. We usually got along well, and spent a lot of time hanging out. But when the campers came to him for advice, or made statements that dismissed me, well that frankly pissed me off. Annabeth has told me multiple times that Jason wasn't trying to take my place, but it kept happening. He would teach sword fighting classes, and was always a captain for capture the flag. He had a little group of admiring fans that were always asking him questions. Yay for him, he was the son of big ole Zeus, not that that mattered to me. But it seemed from my perspective that zappy boy had taken control of what I considered "my camp." Who was it that had saved the camp time and time again? Who had singlehandedly taken on titans, giants, and even gods in hand to hand combat? Percy Jackson had led them into battle against Kronos, not Jason Grace. And a large part of me wished that he would go back to the Romans.

"What's going on?" I asked as I reached the group, crossing my arms and trying to avoid glaring at Grace.

One of the girls on guard, a bright-eyes daughter of Janus, nudged me and pointed up. I followed her gaze. Right outside the camp boundaries, two large creatures were attacking each other. With the sun rising and cutting through the mist, it was hard for me to tell exactly what was going on. I saw a stream of blue come from one of them, and an unearthly reached down into the valley.

"Weapons ready." I heard Jason say softly

"No." I said, looking at him in shock. "They haven't crossed the boarder yet, and we don't know if they're hostiles. What are you going to do? Shoot down the first creature that comes flying over the boarder?"

"It's not Frank. Whatever that is, it's a threat. Better to be prepared." Jason snapped back, before turning his back to me to address the campers again, "Archers get ready."

I took a step towards him, but someone grabbed my arm, stopping me before I could escalate the situation. "Just leave it Seaweed brain." Annabeth said softly. She had walked up behind me without me noticing. She had her drakon knife strapped to her side, and was wearing jeans and a San Francisco sweatshirt. Her presence instantly calmed me down, and I grabbed her hand in mine. Together we looked at the sky, trying to see what would happen next.

The answer is nothing good. Another blue jet flashed across the sky, and then there was more yelling. Some of the campers were pointing at towards the hill, and the other half continued to stare at the sky. Annabeth and I exchanged a worried glance. Running across the hill was an older girl, probably 17 or 18 years old. Long dark brown hair flowed down her back. She was tall and slim, like a supermodel, and waving her hands in the air.

"A half-blood?" Annabeth frowned in her direction. I understood her confusion. Half-bloods didn't come stumbling across the border when they were this old. Nothing made sense about the situation.

"Incoming, archers on the ready!" Jason's scream brought me back to the creatures in the sky. Well, creature now. One had broken away from the other, and was flying towards the camp. My heart skipped a beat when it flew directly across the border. On closer inspection, I could see that it was a dragon. It was small compared to others that I had met, bigger then Blackjack, but not by much. It was pitch black, but the scales were smooth and shiny, similar to a snakes. The dragon flew in with blinding speed, before slowing down to circle around the valley.

"FIRE!"

"Wait, NO!" I cried back, running towards the archers. But I was too late. They released a volley of arrows that soared into the air. The animal tried to swerve in the air, but it hadn't been expecting to be shot at. An arrow hit it's shoulder, and then stabbed through the wing. And then the dragon fell, plummeting to the earth like a helicopter crashing. Then he landed on the ground with a loud thud.

For a moment, it was deathly silent. Half of the campers turned to Grace, looking for guidance. That spurred me into action. Letting go of my girlfriend's hand, I sprinted forward and knelt next to the dragon.

"What's going on?" A hysterical voice cried. It was the tan girl who had run into the valley on foot, "What did you do to her? Why did you shoot?"

So it was a her. I returned to my attention to the dragon. And then the most shocking thing of the morning happened. Before my eyes, the dragon began to shrink. Scales turned into skin, and the wings disappeared into her back. Moments later I was staring at girl. She was so young. Maybe 10 or 11. I instantly knew I was looking at the model girls sister. She had jet black hair pulled back in a braid. Her skin was the same golden-brown color. And she had the same face structure, with the defined cheekbones.

The other campers started whispering around me. The sister of the dragon-girl knelt next to me. "Eddie?" she said softly, shaking her shoulder gently, "Come on Ed wake up."

I heard Annabeth's voice as well, "Percy…."

"She's like Frank." I said bluntly. Realizing how stupid it sounded.

"We need to get her to the big house." Annabeth said, all business. She placed her hand on the other girls back, "Hey, you're safe now. And we're going to take good care of your sister. What are your names?

"Maleah…. I mean, Mel." she stumbled out, still shaking her sister's shoulder desperately. Her eyes were just as beautiful as she was. Whoa, Annabeth wouldn't talk to me for a week if I had said that out loud. But it was true. Her eyes were a light brown, almost amber colored. "And this is Ebony. But if you call her that, she'll fight you. She goes by Eddie."

I nodded, then bent down and gently picked her up. She was surprisingly heavy. Eddie may have been short, but she was broad-shouldered and muscular. I could imagine what she would be able to do with a sword. "Follow me Mel. Let's go to the big house and tell Chiron what happened."

Together, the four of us made our way up to the big house. Annabeth walked right next to me. Maleah walked a little ways away from us, a deep frown etched on her face.

"Percy, something's happening." Annabeth murmered as we walked, barely moving her lips. "Your dreams, Rachel and Nico returning to camp, these two showing up out of nowhere….."

I nodded in agreement, "We'll figure it out. We always do. Together."

* * *

I lay on the grass, watching a handful of campers playing volleyball. Annabeth was up at the Big House with Chiron, Eddie, and Mel. She was going to let me know everything later, but had decided I needed some air. I wanted to argue, but it's kind of hard to argue with her.

My dream continued to come back into my mind. The same dream had haunted me so much over the summer, that I had called Chiron to tell him I was coming back to camp for the fall. I needed to take the time to train and figure things out. Naturally, Jason and Piper had heard I was coming back to camp and decided to come as well. At first, I was so excited to see my old friends. I had just finished my senior year at Goode, and I didn't have a lot of time to visit. Then Jason had really dove into his role as "leader". I had tried so hard to be tolerant of it, and Annabeth tried to keep us from fighting, but to no avail.

"Hey, Jackson." Speak of the devil…..

For some reason, I knew this wouldn't end well. Piper wasn't around to calm Jason down, and obviously Annabeth wasn't around to drag me away. "What do you want?" I snapped, not in the mood.

He reminded me of Thalia when he was mad, except a lot less intimidating. His electric blue eyes flashed in anger, and sparks were flying around him. "Percy, what in the name of Hades were you thinking?"

I knew what he was talking about. When Ed had fallen from the sky, I had basically cut him off to run to her aid. He probably didn't like someone else taking his spotlight. Once again, I was reminded of the Jason from our quest to Rome. That guy had been fun and down to earth. Not some big boss who tried to be a leader with no good leadership traits.

"Look Jason. I'm really not in the mood." I started to say, as I moved to face him. Whoa. He was like an inch from me. I took a step back, shocked at how furious he looked.

"Listen. I understand that this was your camp first or whatever. But I had things under control out there and you decided to butt in like you always do. Don't forget that I was the one who saved this camp…."

"Excuse me?"

"I'm the one who fought Gaia, not you."

"I have saved this camp ten times over before they even knew you existed. And I don't care how Greek you try to be, you're still a Roman. Why don't you stop trying to come and be the big shot Praetor of the Greek demigods. Let's not forget that they rallied behind me against Gaia's forces. I led them into battle against Kronos. And I'm perfectly fine with sharing a leadership role, but what you do isn't leadership. It's bossing everyone around, and I'm done with it."

Jason shoved me backwards. A huge shock blasted me ten feet across the field. I was instantly reminded of the fight I had with Thalia, so many years ago. But this time, I was determined not to let it get out of hand. Swallowing my pride, I stood up and started to walk away.

"I can't believe I thought you were my best friend!" Jason yelled at me. But I kept going, refusing to respond. My instinct was to pull out Riptide and challenge him to a quick duel. Not to the death of course, but a few good strikes to his ribs and head would be extremely satisfying. But Annabeth would be furious if we started out. Between the two of us, we could destroy half the camp without even meaning too. The tension between us was getting worse, but for some reason, I felt today wasn't the day it would be resolved.

* * *

After a couple hours of wandering, I found myself back at the Big House. Waling inside, I was surprised to find Chiron, Annabeth, Mel, and Eddie all sitting at the table. Chiron was in his wheelchair form. Eddie had a cup next to her filled with nectar. Looking at her, awake and seemingly just fine, I could see why she had skipped three grades in school. Her eyes were sharp with intelligence, and she talked like someone much older. They broke off their conversation when they saw me.

"Percy, good timing." Chiron smiled over at me, "Annabeth was about to go find you."

I smiled back at my teacher, then slid into a chair in-between Annabeth and Eddie. Eddie turned to me, she had green eyes, but not like mine. They looked like two emeralds gleaming at me. A chill shot through my back. Somehow I got the feeling that I was looking at someone more powerful than she let on. "I heard you were the one who got me safely here this morning." she spoke curtly and confidently, "Thank you."

"Yeah, no problem." I managed to get out, trying to sort through the feelings creeping up inside me, "So can you turn into any animal you want?"

She laughed, "No, just a dragon. Don't worry, I won't turn into a lion and eat you."

"So you're not like Frank then," I said softly under my breath, "Anyway, what did I miss? What are we talking about?"

Annabeth picked up the conversation, "Maleah and Ebony…."

"Eddie." the girl snapped, flashing her eyes at Annabeth.

"Sorry. Maleah and Eddie were telling us about how they got here. The typical monster attack causing them to flee to camp. Mel told us that their dad told them about camp a long time ago, but they tried to avoid it for as long as possible. After a gryphon attacked them, they came straight here. That's all we got through before we showed up."

"Okay, so do you guys know your heritage yet?" I said

"Well our father…."

Mel cut her off, "Our father was a son of Nike. He died many years ago, Eddie was 2 and I was 6 when it happened. And before you ask, yes, we're Egyptian. On my Grandfather's side. They're almost 100% Egyptian on their side."

"And what about your mother?" Chiron asked gently.

The two sisters exchanged glances, so quick that I almost missed it. Then Mel continued, "She wasn't around much. After I was born, she disappeared for a couple years. Then came back for a year. Ebony was born, and she vanished again. I don't remember much about her, except that she was a horrible parent."

I could tell that they were hiding something. The frown etched on Annabeth's face told me that she was skeptical as well. But now wasn't the time to question.

"Well, I guess we should get you two settled. Friday is Capture the Flag, so we want to make sure you're all ready and settled in by then."

"They can be on our team." Annabeth and I said at the same time.

Chiron nodded, "All right then, I trust you two to get them settled into Cabin 19 with the other kids of Nike."

The four of us turned to leave, when Chrion called me back, "Percy, a moment please?"

"Go ahead," I told Annabeth, leaning forward an kissing her on the cheek, "I'll catch up."

"What's wrong?"

"Have you had any more dreams?"

I sighed and sunk back into the chair. Then I explained my latest dream. I tried to put as much detail into it as possible, but it wasn't easy. "It can't be a coincidence." I said shortly, "Something is happening, in the Underworld, at the edge of Tarturus. I could feel it. Something is trying to break free. And earlier this week, Rachel showed up, with similar dreams. Then Nico, warning us that something big was going on in Hades' kingdom, but he didn't know what. And now, two sisters, come out of nowhere, one of them is able to transform into a dragon, and they tell us some crap story about their mother?"

"I agree with you Percy. I fear something big is happening, and that we may need to send a quest soon. But for now, let's just welcome our new campers and enjoy capture the flag with them shall we? Maybe we will find out more about their past, which will lead to clues on our future. Until then, I believe we are stuck on a wild goose chase."

I wanted nothing more than to stay there and try to talk through things with him. But I was pretty sure our conversation was over. "I'm gonna go get help them move in, can we talk more later?"

"Of course Percy. If danger really is coming, we are very lucky to have you back."

* * *

The next few days passed by in a blur. Eddie and Mel fit into camp perfectly. Eddie was unbelievably skilled with a knife. She had a small black knife with a black leather handle. The first time she sparred with Annabeth, she had disarmed her in seconds. Jason and Piper had fought her as well, and been disarmed shortly after the fight began Then I had sparred with her and after nearly ten minutes, I called it a draw. We were both getting too exhausted to go on. She excelled at the climbing wall too, and she was good at archery. She was pretty poor at sprinting, but could run forever if needed. The one thing she struggled with was Ancient Greek. Mel was a less aggressive fighter. She had a celestial bronze sword, also wrapped with black leather. She was graceful, and seemed to dance around her opponent. She managed to beat me, but wasn't able to beat Annabeth with her style. She also wasn't as athletic as her sister when it came to the climbing wall and the foot races. Her long legs ate up the ground, but she didn't have much endurance. However, Greek came naturally to her.

I was surprised to learn that neither of them were dyslexic. In addition, they weren't ADHD. I found myself quickly warming up to both of them. Mel was super sweet and reminded me of Silena. She was always willing to help out, and everyone enjoyed hanging out with her. She quickly became popular. Eddie was different. She was stubborn and hot headed. She snapped at people easily if they made her mad, but was fiercely loyal to her sister. Her and Nico had also become fast friends and were seen walking around camp talking trash about others.

After dinner on Friday night, we all got ready for Capture the Flag. I hadn't played since July, so I was pretty excited for it. Mel was sitting with a group of campers, all laughing and talking about the game coming up. Eddie sat with me and Annabeth, asking a ton of questions about the game.

The pavilion got really quiet when Chiron stomped his hooves on the ground. Finally, time for some war games. "Campers, you know the rules, but since we have a couple newbies, I'll explain them again. The creek is the boundary, and all of the woods are in play. You can only," he paused to glare over at the Ares caring, "Disarm your prisoners. The Hades cabin and the Iris cabin currently hold the laurels. Hades is team red, Iris team blue. Arm yourselves and let's get the games started!"

Everyone cheered and jumped up. I grabbed a breastplate and made sure that my watch was on. It was a new one, that Tyson had made for me. It was beautifully patterned with me and Blackjack flying over the ocean. A simple design, and absolutely gorgeous. likewise, Annabeth had a new baseball cap. She was helping Eddie fit a breastplate, but when she offered her a shield, the young girl refused.

I wanted to ask her what that was about, but thought better of it. Not everyone wanted to use a shield.

Nico yelled out, "Red team! Come see me for your position."

"I turned to Mel and Ed, "Let's go you two, gotta see if you'll be on border patrol or if you're flanking."

The two teams starting filing out. The blue team huddled together, talking strategy. The red team walked out past Nico, getting they assignments and joining up with others who were assigned to their flank. Nico pointed over at me.

"Percy, you can come with me, we're going to be a right flanking group. Annabeth, you and Mel can stick to defense. Eddie…." he hesitated, not sure of what to do with her, then nodded, "You can come with us on the right flank."

She smiled brightly at that, "All right! What are we waiting for?"

We all followed Nico as he led our team out to the forest. The teams were a bit more confusing now that there were so many cabins. A lot of favors had to be traded to decide who was on what team, and even then, they were never even. Right now, the blue team had roughly 5 more campers than ours did. But that was because they had gotten Aphrodite, Hermes, and Ares on their side. Oh, and they had Jason, the powerhouse of their team. I sent a silent prayer of thanks to the gods that we weren't on the same team.

"Nico, what exactly is the plan?" Eddie said pushing between us. I had to contain a smirk. She was so bold and confident, it was hard not to enjoy her presence. It probably annoyed some people, but I really admired it. She was only twelve.

"Simple. Sometimes the easiest plans are the best. We have a left flank going in, and a flank going in far right shortly after. They'll think that the far right flank is the on going of rah flag and the left is the decoy. Then the three of us will go down the center and go straight for the flag."

It sounded like a good plan. We got to the woods, and Annabeth went to go hide the flag. Then we all stood by the creek and waited, the anticipation and excitement stirring up the air.

"Man, I wish I could turn into a dragon." Eddie said brightly, "I could get that flag in a heartbeat. Then we could all sleep early…"

Annabeth laughed and nudged her. "That would be called cheating." I loved how Annabeth acted like a sister to her. Ebony had grown up with only Mel by her side. And now she had some good friends after only a few days. I had only known her for a few days, but I already felt fiercely loyal to her.

The horn sounded and campers sprung into action. Our first two flanks darted into the woods, the second flank waiting just a moment. Eddie pulled her knife out. We waited for a while longer, until e heard shouts and the sound of swords clashing. Then, at Nico's nod, we all darted into the woods together.

The flanks seemed to be doing a good job. We made it through the woods virtually undetected. We stayed to the shadows, which seemed to bend to Nico's will. Ed also blended in well to the shade, slinking along like she had been born to do this. Finally, we found the flag. But there were still four people around it. I glanced at Nico, waiting for his plan, but Eddie had other ideas.

She yelled at charged at them. Nico shrugged, like "well that works too" and we ran to help her. I crossed blades with a camper I hardly knew, and Nico went after one of Piper's brothers. Eddie was doing good job of fending for herself, she had already disarmed her first opponent, and was currently going knife-on-spear with a daughter of Ares. I turned my attention back to my own fight. I dodged a slash to my ribs, and opened my shield. The other camper danced away at the last moment, going on the defense. Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Ebony step in close, and swipe the girls legs out from under her. She fell to the ground with a loud thud. I took another swipe at my opponent and then yelled "Get the flag!" In her direction.

She got the message. As I continued to spar with the kid, not trying to win, just to keep him distracted so he couldn't raise the alarm, I saw her running towards it. Once she was a few feet away, I stopped playing. The next time the campers took a swing at me, I twisted his handle, forcing him to drop the sword. Then I swung the flat of the blade into his side. He collapsed to his knees. I pushed my shield in his face, and watched him crumble to the ground.

Eddie grabbed the flag and took off. Nico cheered her on, as he slammed the butt of his sword into another Aphrodite camper, knocking him flat on his back. We looked at each other, then took off after her. We fell into pace behind her as she zigzagged through the woods, making sure that no one could jump out and trip her up. We got to the creek, when all of a sudden she slammed on the brakes. Nico ran directly into her, grabbing my shoulder to keep from falling over.

I could see Jason holding our flag, he was still far off but closing fast. "What are you doing?" Nico yelled, "Go! We're gonna lose." Jason kept coming towards the creek.

I could hear Eddie's breathing getting faster, and more ragged. She was scared of something. But I also knew that she was related to Nike. She wasn't going to lose, not if she was this close to winning.

"Hey, no one cares who your mom is, okay?" I snapped, I don't know why but I was desperate to win. I just couldn't allow Jason to walk away with a stupid lightening bolt on the flag. "We can't lose because you're scared of people judging you. I already know who you are…"

"Just cross the damn creek." Nico growled, interrupting me.

She didn't show any outward appearances of hearing us, but her actions spoke louder. With a loud yell, she leaped cross the creek, and slammed into Jason. I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing out loud, "We won!" I whooped, giving Nico a high five.

For a moment, all was great. The red team started cheering, gathering around eddie to congratulate her. The blue team helped Jason up. Jason turned and scowled in my direction, but I just shrugged it off. We won!

It took me a few moments to realize that the rest of red team had grown silent. They were still gathered in a circle around Ebony, but they weren't giving her high-fives anymore. They were all frozen in shock, staring at the flag.

"What is…."

"I've never seen…."

"I don't understand…."

"Who is…."

All the campers voices mingled together. I shoved my way through them to see what was going on. Eddie was glaring at the other campers, almost daring them to say a word. Her usually bright green eyes looked almost black in the fading light. But it was the flag that caught my attention. It had turned pitch black. Small glittering silver stars ran around the edge of it. And int he middle was a crescent moon. Just a small white sliver, like how the moon looked before a new moon took place. Then Eddie looked directly at me. Her eyes didn't just look black…. they were black. They gleamed at me, emotionless, shining in the dark. I had seen eyes like that only once before. Now I understood why I had felt so much fear when I looked at her. I understood why her and Mel were able to survive for so long without being attacked.

Mel pushed her way through as well. Stopping next to me. Her eyes were thankfully still a light amber-brown. But I knew that they were still sisters. Both of them, the daughters of the ancient goddess.

"Nyx." I breathed out. Some campers gasped. A few started whispering urgently amongst themselves. But worst of all, some scrambled backwards, as if they were afraid of what they would do. I met Ebony's gleaming black eyes. Now that I was close, it was almost as if I could feel the power rolling off of her. It all made sense now.

"Percy, what's going on?" Annabeth said slowly, hesitantly.

"Nyx." I repeated softly. "Mel and Eddie. You're the daughters of Nyx."

* * *

 **I forgot to mention this, but Percy is 18. He and Annabeth just graduated high school. They were planning on attending college in New York, but after al the dreams he was having, they decided to wait until the spring semester to start.**

 **And I know it may seem like I overdid the Percy Jason rivalry, but I just imagine that it has been building up for a long time now, since they defeated Gaia.**

 **And once again, sorry this took forever. Chapter three will be a bit shorter, and we'll be back in Eddie's POV for that one. Hope you guys are njoying it, and like always, Reviews are loved and appreciated!**


	4. Why Does My Life Suck

_**Sorry this took so long! I got sick over the weekend, and decided to sleep for like 48 hours straight instead of writing. Still a little sick, but I felt good enough to get this chapter finished. It's a shorter chapter, lots of dialogue, and it's setting everything up for the main point of this book.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 3: Ebony**

 **Why Does My Life Suck?**

* * *

Well my life sucks.

The previous night had been a blur. I knew I should have just dropped that stupid flag instead of running across the border with it, but damn it, I like winning. I guess that was the Nike in me. Losing at anything, even a silly card game, always made me ridiculously mad. Plus

Anyway, back to last night. After the flag had turned black (and Percy had said my eyes went black as well, a cool trick if I could figure out how to do it again) and we were claimed, there had been massive chaos. Most of the campers had tripped over themselves to get away. Some started arguing, and others sounded downright angry. Mel stood next to me, her eyes wide in concern. Percy had tried to calm the campers, and Annabeth had butted her way into the circle. Her and Percy tried together to relax the rest of the campers, but it didn't do anything. Everyone knew about Nyx, and her reputation. Most of them were in a state of panic, as if they expected us to turn evil that moment and start killing everyone. Then Chiron has come to the rescue.

He managed to calm the campers down, at least a little, and said that we were still welcome at camp. He invited us to spend the night in the big house until we could discuss things farther in the morning. I had tried to argue, I wanted to stay in Nike's cabin, but he wasn't having it. Eventually, Mel talked me into it and we headed up to the big house and got settled in. Nico ran to our cabin and grabbed our stuff for the night.

Now it was morning. And time for the meeting. All of the head counselors were meeting us at the house following breakfast. I was certain they were going to vote us out of camp, exile us, whatever. Mel was unusually quiet. Whenever I tried striking up a conversation, she completely ignored me. I knew she was still furious about the game last night. When we were all settled in for the night, she went into full on mom mode. Calling me reckless, stubborn, competitive to a fault, a complete idiot... and a bunch of other insults. Then I opened my fat mouth, made a sarcastic comment here and there, and ended by calling her a coward. That shut her up right away. But it also earned me the silent treatment.

I sat at the ping pong table, at the complete opposite end from my sister. Chiron showed up first, in wheelchair form. An older girl with frizzy red haired followed him in. Everyone else showed up after that. Jason and piper came in first, holding hands. Then came the representatives for the minor gods: Janus, Hecate, Nemesis, Iris, Nike, and Morpheus. The other minor god cabins were empty. Nico came in with Will, both of them deep in conversation. Nico made it a point to sit next to me, daring the other campers to comment. I appreciated him for that. It was nice to know that there was at least one person at the camp that wasn't terrified of me. Percy and Annabeth came in as well. Percy sat down next to me, and Annabeth came to sit on my other side. She flashed a smile my way and I mouthed a silent thanks to her. I didn't know the names of the last four campers to come in to the "conference". However, i knew that they represented Hermès, Hephaestus, Ares, and Demeter. Twenty of us. A big war council.

Chiron started it off right away by asking Nico, Percy, and Rachel to explain hey Rey had returned to camp.

Percy went first. He explained about his dreams at the entrance to Tartarus, and the voice he kept hearing. It was trying to escape, break free. "I don't believe it's Kronos," he said slowly, "But I believe it's a titan. It could be Krios or possibly Hyperion, reforming to come and pick up where Kronos left off."

Nico looked at him thoughtfully, "Your dreams are at the edge of Tartarus, mine have been at my Father's palace." He explained that he had seen two powerful spirits breaking there way towards the gate. "Whoever they are, they have bad intentions. They always speak of revenge, destruction, and death. I've only caught words here and there, never a full conversation. But they're at the gates, ready to get out."

The red head jumped to her feet, she must have even Rachel, "Thats why my dreams have been so confusing!" She cried excitedly. I don't know why she would be excited after hearing about death and destruction but she didn't seem normal in any sense of the word, "My dreams have just been dark with spirits whispering all around. That's it, but enough got me to decide to come back here." She looked at Chiron, "I had this feeling. We must send a quest. And you need me for that."

I felt the need to stand up as well after that, "Chiron, the morning of my 12th birthday, the morning we arrived at camp, we were attacked by a gryphon. I've heard the legends. Gryphons don't usually attack, or leave their homes, which are usually in deep forests. They collect gold, and aren't typically interested in destroying half-bloods." I hesitated, not sure what to say next, "I don't think it was a coincidence that we showed up at camp when we did. And I don't think that what led us to camp was a normal attack."

Chiron nodded, "It does not make sense child. For how powerful you, and your sister are, you should have been attacked many years ago. Just because you turned twelve does not mean that you should be attacked instantly like that. It is downright impossible that your scent had grown that much, especially since you are one of the most powerful demigods to ever be born. And you have always known who you are."

I froze, the pieces clicking in place in my mind, "So what you're saying… this was set up?"

He sighed, "Ebony, I believe that someone summoned that creature there. Someone wanted you at camp, and they couldn't wait any longer. There is a puppet master pulling the strings behind the scenes. And that is why we need a quest."

The counselors all started whispering to each other. Annabeth leaned over and muttered, "Chiron will organize a quest to the underworld to stop whatever is trying to break out." She paused, a worried look crossing her face, "I wouldn't worry too much. I'm guessing he'll send three senior counselors."

I shook my head. "Annabeth... Mel and I showed up around the same time as Percy and you and Nico and Rachel... like I just said, it can't be a coincidence. I think we're supposed to be going on this quest."

She looked like she wanted to say more, but it was Chiron who spoke first. He stomped his hoof on the ground to draw everyone's attention. "We will organize a quest. And hope that the gods will send us more answers along the way. A quest to go to the underworld, find out who is trying to break free, and stop them." He paused, making sure he still had everyone's attention, "We need a leader."

"Ebony should lead it." My sister said without hesitation, I was too stunned to speak. I was the youngest one here! "You saw what she can do Chiron, and she's a daughter of Nyx. The underworld will be home turf for her."

Someone near me scoffed, as if that was the dumbest idea they ever heard.

I shrugged, trying to pretend like I didn't care, "Okay, I'll accept." I said confidently, even though my conscience was screaming at me for being a dumbass.

"Wait." It was Percy, "Chiron, she's only twelve."

"You led your first quest when you were 12." Another camper added.

"Rachel," Annabeth jumped in, "What do you think?"

She looked up at her, absolute certainty in her eyes. "A princess of darkness will lead this quest. I know this."

Mel looked at me, "You're smarter, more powerful, and a better leader." She said, her amber eyes unreadable, "It has to be you."

I didn't want to show weakness in front of the entire camp. One minute stretched into two.

"I believe in you." Mel said again, "I know you can do this. You know you can do this."

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath. She was right. I was more powerful. I could become a dragon at will. I was just as smart as her, getting ready for my sophomore tests (even though I was technically a freshman) and I was a quick decision maker. Whenever it came to big decisions, she hesitated and took much longer to decide. I didn't know if my extra confidence was a good thing or a bad thing.

"If you accept," Rachel said, "Approach me and ask. It is time to receive the prophecy."

I looked between Rachel and Chiron for a long moment. I was trying to find the right words. But before I could say anything, Mel cut in. "She's not getting the prophecy in front of everyone. It's hers, and hers alone. She will interpret it her own way and share what she wishes with us."

Chiron shifted uncomfortably in his chair. "Maleah my dear, that is not how the oracle works. The oracle will speak through Miss Dare when she wishes."

I felt like I had a huge lump in my throat. Why was everyone so certain that I should be the one to lead the quest? Percy was the one having the dreams, not me. Nico too. Both were way more experienced than me. I wasn't even sure how I felt. Proud I guess, but also extremely annoyed. And frankly, I was mad at my sister. We didn't have to come here, I wouldn't have gotten injured if we had decided to stay away from camp.

I could feel my anger getting out of hand. It had happened once before, and all the lights in the room had shut off. Never good. "This is ridiculous." I said curtly. Taking a deep breath, I clenched my hands into fists. I didn't want to wait any longer. The sooner we started, the sooner we finished. Then I could leave camp and go back to school. I whipping around to face Rachel, "Well Oracle? What's my destiny. And be quick about it, I'm not patient."

Rachel opened her mouth, ready for a stinging retort probably, and then she froze.

A mist poured out of her, forming shapes in front of me. Large, black gates. Elaborately decorated with war scenes. Dark clouds hung over them, and they rattled. I wanted to believe it was a strong wind, but I knew better. Someone, or something, was trying to break out. I knew it was an illusion but everything about it seemed so real.

Then Rachel opened her mouth to speak. It sounded like someone talking in a large empty theatre. Her voice seemed to echo back and forth. But the words were easy to make out.

"Five will travel where darkness awaits

To confront those who try to open the gates

What you seek is not what you think

Pain and betrayal lay hidden at the brink

One strike to start the worst of all

The war when great heroes will finally fall."

Rachel stumbled forward, catching herself on the edge of the ping-pong table. "Please tell me it was a hopeful one." She groaned, clutching her head. I was pretty sure that the prophecies gave her massive headaches.

I didn't bother to answer her. Pain? Betrayal? Heroes falling? Everyone was silent. Some looked plain afraid, others were thoughtful. They were trying to piece together the prophecy, figure it all out.

"Five together is never a good idea." The son of Ares said. I was

Surprised at how nervous he sounded. His father was the God of war, I figured he should be at least a little braver. "It would be safer to send three."

"You can't fight prophecies." Annabeth argued back, "The Oracle said five, so we will send five."

"And who will go on this suicide quest?" The Nemesis counselor asked.

"You assume it's a suicide quest because I'm leading it?" I snapped back.

"Well If were being honest, who can trust a daughter of night? I wouldn't be surprised if you're the traitor. You can't trust someone who's literally born of darkness."

I wanted to reply, but I was completely stunned. I had been at camp for four days and I was already accused of being a traitor? I had been right. No matter what we did, Mel and I would always be branded as the villains.

"That's not fair." Nico growled, standing up to glare at her, "in the ghost king, the prince of the underworld, and you all trust me. Let's not judge someone before they have a chance to prove themselves. Anyway Taylor, as I recall you've never been on a quest. So how do we know that we can trust you."

Arguing instantly broke out at the table after Nico sat down. Chiron gripped my shoulder, a silent warning not to get involved. Probably a good thing too. I wanted nothing more than to jump forward and give Taylor a crooked nose and a black eye or two. The yelling intensified, and I saw some people stand up, pulling out weapons.

I couldn't stand it, "HEY!" One of the lights above me burst, dimming the light in the room. I wasn't sure if I had done that, or if it was a terrible coincidence. But now I had their attention, wether it was a good or bad thing was yet to be seen. "We all saw Rachel give the prophecy. She was looking directly at me. We know, thanks to Percy and Nico's dreams that a dark spirit is trying to emerge from Hades' palace."

Everyone's attention was still on me, "Will you all stop being such idiots? I'm pretty sure my backpack is smarter than all of you."

A couple campers chuckled. They were settling down.

I swept my eyes over the room. "I am leading this quest. And I need help. The quest said five."

Chiron had let go of my shoulder and now he addressed me, "You can choose your own companions, or they can volunteer."

I nodded thoughtfully. "Can everyone please shut up while I think?" I muttered. I didn't know many of the people there. Will, Nico, Percy, Annabeth, Jason, Piper, and of course Maleah. We were going to the underworld. And we had to go straight to the gates of Hades' palace. I was starting to have a bad feeling about "the brink" mentioned in the prophecy. But I knew the stories as well. Jason's story, Piper's story, Percy and Annabeth, and I knew who I had to take with me.

"Mel, I know you're going to come wether I ask you or not so you may as well join the quest." She smirked up at me. That's the problem with big sisters, they're overprotective and giant know-it-all's.

I looked at Nico next, "You're the son of Hades, if anyone can help us get to the gates without dying, it's you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He grumbled, Will grabbed his hand tightly, i imagined he was very nervous. "I'll go."

Before I could say anything else, Jason jumped to his feet.

"I volunteer to go. And so does Piper." He said, giving Percy a sideways glance as he spoke.

I opened my mouth to retort when Percy jumped up, "Funny Jason, I remember you scrambled away from her at the creek last night."

Annabeth pulled him back into his seat, but now Piper was standing up as well, "Percy, you and Annabeth have saved this camp so many times. I think we deserve to go on this quest."

"It's not about deserve lover girl." Percy snapped, shrugging off Annabeth and walking over to the two of them. I could feel the tension building in the air between them.

Piper crossed her arms, "Shut up Prissy." she growled.

I saw him fall silent for a few moments before rolling his eyes, "Stop with the stupid charmspeak. You think you can just get what you want by using it? Well guess what? You can't."

Jason grabbed a coin out of his pocket. I almost asked if he was preparing to bet on a fight between Piper and Percy, but her flipped it in the air. A moment later he was holding a golden sword in his hands. Percy grabbed his pen as well, and uncapped it. A second layer he was also holding a weapon. The same bronze sword that he had used in capture the flag the other night.

Some campers started chanting for them to fight, the one's who had some semblance of a brain were yelling at them to stop. But it was Annabeth and Nico who managed to intervene in time.

"Hey Seaweed brain." Annabeth said softly, grabbing his sword arm. He tried to shrug her off again, but she didn't let go this time. "It's not your quest. And it's not Jason's or Piper's." The fire in his eyes died down a little, but I could tell he was still furious.

Nico stepped between them as well, "Will you sit down?" he snapped, "I mean come on, my dad is the most temperamental Olympian and I'm the one keeping my cool here. Like annabeth said, it's not your damn quest."

"Language!" Maleah yelled across the table. I rolled my eyes. She acted like I had never heard a cuss word before.

Nico rolled his eyes as well, "Whatever. Anyway, It's Eddie's quest. Why don't you ask her who she wants to bring along, instead of bickering like a couple of five year olds?"

Percy must have been the smartest of the group, because he capped his sword first and sat down, pointedly turning his back on Jason. Piper sat down as well, curling her lip in anger. Jason was the last, he continued to glare in Percy's direction until finally he snapped out, "Sit down hotwire, now is not the time."

He took a deep breath before sitting down. I knew it was only a matter of time before those two went at it. And I was pretty sure that between the two of them, they would destroy half the camp. Probably best to keep them as far away from each other as possible… Like a country apart.

Nico turned to me, eyebrows raised, "All right Ed, who else is coming with you?"

I nodded, silently thanking him for his support. It would be good to have him on the quest. "Percy and Annabeth." I said without hesitation. "You've been through Tartarus before and to the underworld as well. Your experience will be helpful."

Not everyone was happy about my decision, but not one argued. That worried me a bit. If they were already afraid of me, how could I possibly earn their trust? I may be the daughter of night, but I wasn't evil like her. Not everyone takes after both of their parents, and I was hoping to be like my father. I hardly remembered him, but I knew he was a good person.

"It is decided." Chiron said, "Ebony…"

"Eddie." I hissed under my breath

He continued like he didn't hear me, "Ebony will lead the quest. Going with her will be Nico, Maleah, Percy, and Annabeth. The quest will leave at noon. Good luck to you all."

The meeting broke up, campers walking out in groups and muttering to themselves. I felt a chill creep through me. Now that everyone had left, I realized what a heavy burden had just been placed on me. I was 12, how could I possibly be the leader they were looking for?

* * *

The rest of the morning sped by. A couple of campers from the Hermes cabin came by and helped us pack. We had a few duffle bags that had extra clothes, toiletries, golden drachma, some regular cash, and a sleeping bag. I was pretty thankful to the guys from Hermes cabin who had helped us. The head counselor, a guy named Connor, was a lot of fun. He seemed to enjoy the fact that I was the daughter of Nyx. When we went to go get lunch he loudly announced "Make way for the queen of the night, or she will plunge the world into darkness." Some people scowled at him, but I was grateful. At least one person accepted me. Apparently Connor had a reputation as a prankster and overall troublemaker. There were worse people to be associated with. He even made a big show of bowing to me as I walked by with my plate of food. Maybe camp wasn't so bad after all.

After lunch, the five of us gathered at the top of the hill. Some other campers had come to see us off, but most stayed away. I knew they were secretly hoping that if only three came back, it would not include me and Mel. Connor gave me a thumbs up, then went off to "redecorate a few cabins". I didn't want to ask.

Chiron explained to us that Argus was going to drive us West, using one of the camp vans. Once we got to the city, he would drop us off and we would have to find our own transportation from there. I was about to ask who argus was, when the van pulled up.

A guy looked out the window. He was tan, with blond hair. He looked like he belongs on a beach in California, not in Long Island. But he had eyes… and a lot of them. A ton of blue eyes scattered over his body. I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "Nice to see you, I'm sure you'll keep a good eye on us." That could come off as rude. Instead I said, "Hi, it's nice to meet you and your eyes." which I'm pretty sure was just as bad, and a lot less clever.

Mel looked embarrassed, Nico rolled his eyes, and Percy just laughed. I realized with a shock that all four of them were looking at me. Even Chiron looked at me, as if he was waiting for something.

"You have your weapons?" He asked. I nodded. I had my knife, and Mel had her sword, the only gifts from our mother that e had never met. Nico had a wicked cool sword that he said was made of some kind of iron. Percy had riptide, and Annabeth had a drakon-bone knife that she had gotten in Tartarus. Percy also had a watch that expanded into a shield.

"I think we're ready." I said, all of the quest members nodded in agreement. I tried to hide my fear. If I'm being honest, I liked leading, I was natural at it, very confident and sure of myself. But now that I was surrounded by people who had so much experience, it felt wrong. I didn't want to be the one making the decisions when they were better equipped to do it. At least, being the youngest member on the quest, I wouldn't lose face if I asked them for help. I had four people with me who accepted me and had made me feel welcome. I trusted Mel with my life, and Percy, Annabeth and Nico had never given me a reason to dislike them.

"Wait!" Percy said suddenly, his eyes getting wide as he remembered something important. He whistled loudly and amount later, a black dog melted out of the shadows. It was a hellhound, big as a rhino, with a bronze collar. It let out a loud woof and gave Percy a sloppy wet kiss. Then the dog turned to me, tail wagging, and started sniffing like I was the most interesting thing in the world. "Mel, Eddie, meet my dog. This is Mrs. O'Leary. I figured it would be helpful to have a hellhound with us as we travel to the underworld."

I love dogs. And horses. And basically every animal in existence. So I was definitely cool with a giant black mastiff. After sniffing me over for a few minutes, the hellhound lay down and poked her nose in my face. I rubbed her big head a couple times and she wagged her tail enthusiastically. Mel had to dodge out of the way to avoid getting knocked over by a giant dog tail. "I love her Percy." I said brightly, still scratching her behind her ears. "But how are we going to take her with us?"

In response she barked a couple time. Each bark she shrunk down until she was the size of a regular 200 pound mastiff instead of a 5200 pound mastiff. Percy instructed her to get in the van, and then the rest of us started to file in. Chiron grabbed my shoulder quickly before I could get in behind them, "Listen Eddie, I've sent many heroes off on quests. There is something strange going on here, some magic I do not know." He paused for a moment, a sad look crossing his eyes, "Keep your eyes and your ears open, and remember not all prophecies are clear. The meaning is not what you think."

I nodded, shoving down any remaining doubts I had. Then I took a look back over the camp. The rolling green hills, the big house in the distance, the decorated cabins… I had a feeling that things would be completely different when I came back. I said goodbye and hopped in the van, unusually quiet. The doubt was gone, but the dread was still there. Something horrible was about to happen.


	5. Animals Continue to Save My Life

_**Good news is that Chapter 5 is already in progress and will hopefully be up tomorrow! Bad news is that I can't promise that it will be up tomorrow. Anyway, another shorter chapter. I'm hoping that most of them will be around this length of about 4500-5000 words, but some of them will end up being longer. Also it's going to be twelve chapters+the prologue, so thirteen chapters total for this first fic in the series. Just so that you have an idea of how it's going and progressing. And in case I forgot to mention ages, just going to re-visit them for anyone wondering. I tried really hard to get all the ages correct, but I may have messed up so at least I tried.**_

 _ **Ebony: 12**_

 _ **Maleah: 16**_

 _ **Annabeth: 18**_

 _ **Percy: 18**_

 _ **Nico: 15**_

 _ **Anyway, please enjoy this chapter! We're really picking up speed now that we're on the quest and it's not going to slow down for the next 6 chapters so be ready for lots of action!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 4: Percy**

 **Animals Continue to Save My Life**

* * *

I wish I could say that the quest started well, but that would be a lie. Especially since we only got two states over by midnight.

As soon as we got to the city, we got bus tickets and started heading out west. Naturally that didn't last.

The moment we got on the bus, I had another dream. It was just as bad as the last one. Except this time, I wasn't at the edge of Tartarus. I was at the Underworld's gates. The palace entrance rose high above me. The elaborate decorations gave the entire scene an aura of fear. I heard whispering all around me from the spirits of the dead. I stepped towards the gates. I had to do something. They were going to get out! My dream self didn't know what was beyond the gate, but it did understand that it was something terrible. The whispering around me got louder the closer I got.

"Turn back," voices whispered, "Not them," another cried. Even more started speaking, their voices overlapping, as the gates began to tremble.

"It can't be…."

"They cannot…"

"Must be stopped…"

"Don't come…"

"This is wrong…"

"Not what you think…"

The rest started to echo those words "Not what you think." The gates started to shake. The roof above began to crack from the violent movement of the gates. I was sure the entire place was going to come crashing down at any moment. But I had to stop it. I drew my sword, ready to fight. Then the doors burst open, two animals shot out straight towards me. A giant snake, a screeching bird. I screamed as the snake wrapped around me, crushing me, and the bird swooped in. It's beak aimed for my eyes….

I woke up with a start. Nico frowned over at me, probably guessing that I just had a dream. Mel was sitting by herself in front of me. She looked deep in thought. Annabethw as busy talking to Eddie.

She leaned across the aisle when she saw me wake up. She informed me that we had just crossed the boarder into Ohio. We were making fairly good time. But naturally, now that I was awake, our luck was about to run out. After another hour of awkward silence, the bus started making weird clunking sounds. The driver pulled over, and announced that we would need to wait for another bus to come. Five half-bloods waiting on the side of a road for a second bus didn't seem like such a grand idea. I was pretty sure that it wasn't a coincidence that the bus had broken down. We all decided to hop off and travel on foot for a little while. It was already getting dark, but Eddie insisted that we keep traveling. I guess being the daughter of Nyx, the night was when she felt most comfortable. As we started traveling, Mel and Annabeth struck up a conversation right away, talking about how she was redesigning Olympus. Nico joined in, and I found myself walking next to Eddie at the front of the group. Mrs. O'Leary turned back into her full form and darted in and out of the woods. I knew she was having fun, chasing squirrels and causing chaos.

Ebony set a fast pace through the twilight woods. "So..." She said after a long moment of silence, "You live in New York?"

I nodded, "Born and raised!" I said proudly, "My mom and stepdad live in the city. I actually graduated from my stepdads high school. Which is a miracle in and of itself."

She nodded, her face expressionless like normal, "I'm guessing you have ADHD?"

"Uh huh. Until Goode High School, I was a perfect 8 for 8 on getting kicked out of schools."

"I just get detention a lot. Apparently calling a teacher an idiot to their face, and correcting a teacher, and also getting in physical fights with students is frowned upon. In my opinion, it's completely acceptable. But they can't hate me that much when I'm the smartest person in the class."

I laughed, "Well if you need a high school to go to, I'm pretty sure Paul would be just fine with you attending Goode. And I'm also coaching the swim team so you could join that."

She gave me a sly look, "You weren't by chance on the swim team were you?"

"Well...yes."

She raised her eyebrows, "I believe that's called cheating Jackson."

"Hey! I went through a lot. I deserved to have a little fun."

She cracked a smile. "Well I'll think about cheater. But I don't do well with authority."

I was about to respond, when I felt a tingle run down my spine. Ebony must have felt it too because she instantly threw out her arm and stopped me in my tracks. She held up her other hand to command the others to stop. I have to say I was unbelievably impressed. Ebony didn't just accept her leadership role. She was a leader. She took charge of the role and was leading was confidence and intelligence. We had only been on the quest for about half a day but it was clear that she was standing out.

I peered through the woods, trying to find what Eddie was seeing. After traveling on foot for a while I noticed that she had downright excellent night vision. I'm pretty sure she saw better in the dark. I tripped over roots and stumbled in holes constantly. In contrast, Eddie avoided every little bump in the road. Her potential power was limitless, and I was starting to see that as we travelled in the night.

She had stopped us in an open area, where the moon shone brightly. I could see that she was staring off to the left in the woods. There was a giant shadowy figure moving towards us. I heard a low growl. Annabeth snuck up next to me, she had her Drakon knife in her hands. I saw Mel and Eddie draw their weapons as well. Nico stood on Ebony's other side, his iron sword drawn. I was the only one with my weapon still hidden. I didn't want to draw it yet with the bronze light. Maybe, like me, the monster couldn't see well in the dark.

We all held our breath. Hoping that the monster would pass on by. Another low growl ran through the woods the trees trembled nearby, and then it emerged from the woods.

The creature looked like some sort of dinosaur. He or she, it, whatever, looked like artist sketches of a triceratops. At least I'm the body. Thick set with heavy legs, big as tree trunks. It had a long tail and ridges along its back and tail. But the head looked like a typical horse head, except for the fact that it was three Times the size, had three wicked sharp horns sticking out of its head, and a deadly set of canines. So on second thought it didn't look like a triceratops. It looked like a triceratops, mixed with a horse, mixed with an alligator. I had seen a ton of weird monsters in my lifetime, and this one was up there with the weirdest. It flared in our direction, letting out a bone chilling roar.

"What." Mel said pointing at it, her eyes wide in shock "The hell. Is that?"

I heard Ebony let out a low growl next to me. It definitely wasn't human. And as hard as I tried, I couldn't keep the shudder away from my spine. She bent down into a squat, I could only assume she was about to "dragon up" and take on the tricero-gator-horse.

"Odontotyrranos." Annabeth and Nico said at the same time.

"Ummmm okay..."

Annabeth sighed, "Percy you're helpless. It attacked Alexander the Great on his way..."

A sudden blur shot past her. Mrs. O'Leary had grown tired of us talking and decided to take matters into her own hands, or paws I guess. My huge dog jumped straight on the odonto-whatever's back and started snarling and clawing. For a brief moment everyone froze, trying to figure out what to do.

"Keep it distracted!" I was surprised to hear Eddie yelling out the orders instead of Annabeth, "I'm gonna see if this thing can handle some fire."

I darted in front of it, waving my sword in the air like a lunatic. With a low growl, it swung its head to me, tail thrashing while my pet clung on with all her strength. I saw a flash of black out of the corner of my eye, then a loud whoosh as the dragon took flight. Unfortunately, that distracted me long enough for the monster to take a swing at my head.

I hit the dirt, and rolled as far as I could, hoping that I could avoid the deadly set of knives slashing towards me. "Hey, over here mutant!" Nico yelled off to my left. Just in the nick of time too. All at once, it lost interest in me and started to ramble towards my friend. Annabeth charged from the right, slashing with her knife. Unfortunately her knife just sparked off of its back. Mel grabbed my arm and pulled me to my feet, her black sword by her side. The monster was swinging his head back and forth in frustration, as Nico and Annabeth darted in and out, holding its focus.

That was when we heard the sonic boom. Mel understood before anyone and let out a loud yell, "Get down!"

We all dove down, just as Eddie swooped down from the sky like a rocket. A jet of blue fire slammed into the monster. I couldn't help but be impressed by Eddies skill as she swooped out of the dive expertly. She did a full circle before landing next to me. The monster had been knocked down, but I could tell it wasn't defeated.

"Okay, what the hell?" Nico jumped almost a foot in the air as Eddie turned back into her normal self without warning directly behind him. Ed looked absolutely furious, "That should have killed him!"

Annabeth shot me a sideways glance, "Percy, remember when you told me about the Nemean lion?"

"You fought THE Nemean lion?" Mel asked, her eyes wide in awe.

I was about respond but I was interrupted by a loud scream "Scatter!" Nico cried, as the monster scrambled to his feet.

Ebony let out another growl, from somewhere off to my left, and I heard Mel snap out "Not now!" As the two dove behind a tree together.

The ADHD side of my brain wondered what that was about, but Annabeth tackled me sideways before I could think on it too much.

The beast swung his head side to side, trying to decide who to go after. Now Nico ran at it, brandishing his sword. As soon as it turned its attention to him, Mel came at it from the other side. I took the opportunity to lunge forward as well. I slashed with Riptide, hoping to cause some damage. Unfortunately, Riptide bounced right off. The force of my strike was enough for the recoil to pop my shoulder out of place. I retreated with a gasp of pain.

Mrs. O'Leary jumped in to help me out. I loved my dog. I was unbelievably lucky to have her by my side. She growled and lashed. Between her, Mel, and Nico, they were holding his attention. I couldn't see where Eddie had run off to, which worried me. Annabeth grabbed my shoulder from behind, thankfully not my bad one.

"The nemean lion!" she repeated, "How did you defeat it? The mouth was soft right?"

"Well yes but there aren't any freeze dried treats in the middle of the woods!" I snapped back.

I wish I hadn't snapped at her, because the glare she gave me was worse than Medusa's. "Really Seaweed brain? I didn't notice." she said dryly, "Think of another way to open it's mouth"

"You're the genius." I muttered back, switching my sword to my left hand. Which wasn't that good of an idea. I was about as skilled left-handed as I was with a bow and arrow. Which basically means I sucked at it.

I heard a yell of pain, and Nico went flying through the air. He hit his head on the ground with a nasty conk. I saw him try to sit up, before falling back, dazed. Mrs. O'Leary was also limping, I could see that the monster had gotten a good strike against her leg. Now it was just Mel by herself, bravely trying to hold off the creature. My unease grew when I noticed that the other Stryke sister was still absent from the fight. Annabeth nodded at me and together we charged in to help.

"We have to find a soft spot!"Maleah yelled as we joined up. I swung at the creatures head, completely missing. The three of us started to dance around, and that was when I noticed it. The monster had snarled and taken a swing at me with his heavy leg. I had dove and rolled under him. And that was when I remembered the giant crab I had defeated on Luke's cruise ship a couple years ago.

The huge crab had tried to kill me, like most monsters. But I had managed to slide under it's legs and stab it right in the soft underside. The monster's hide was a lot thinner on his belly. If I could just get to it…. The only problem was that we were fighting in the woods. There were roots, branches, holes in the ground, and trees in my way of doing a spectacular baseball slide.

My flashback had distracted me for too long. I heard Annabeth scream my name in horror, and I looked up to find the Odontotyrannos locked on to me. It lunged teeth bared, and I was worried that those three terrible horns and long canines would be the last sight for me.

A black sword appeared in it's mouth. It shrieked in pain, but unfortunately didn't dissolve. For a moment, it staggered around, trying to dislodge the weapon from his mouth. It gave the opportunity I needed to scramble back on all fours. Mel grabbed me by the collar and hauled me to my feet. I noticed she no longer had her weapon, "Thanks," I managed to gasp out.

The creature finally spit out the sword, blood flowing freely from his mouth. A super gruesome sight. It fixed us with pure hatred. I knew we were running low on options. Maleah was weaponless, I was injured, my dog was injured, and Annabeth was trying to get Nico on his feet. I could see a small smudge of blood on his forehead as well.

Then I heard another snarl from the woods. It was animal-like, less unnatural than the monster's sounds. I heard Mel cry out "EBONY STOP!" just as an animal leaped from the woods.

My first thought was that the animal was gorgeous. It was a black leopard. Long and slim, black spots on black fur. It's muscles rippled under it's coat. Long claws dug into the ground, as it stood between us and the monster. They began to circle each other. And my brain made the connection when I saw the eyes. Shining green like emeralds on a field of black.

Ebony roared at the monster. I snapped out of my shock almost instantly. It wasn't any crazier than Frank Zhang turning into a dolphin, or an eagle, or anything really, "Target the belly!" I yelled out.

She lashed her tail, which I hope meant she understood. Then, she lunged forward. She was terrifying. The poor monster didn't stand much of a chance against her speed. She leapt in and out, darting around like a crazy house cat. She may have been a tenth of the size, but she was unstoppable. He roared in frustration again, trying to take another swing at her. Eddie changed direction with unbelievable speed, unbalancing him.

I pounced on the opportunity. I ran forward with all my speed an crammed my body into it's leg. With another snarl, the beast toppled on its side. Eddie didn't hesitate either. She leapt on his belly, and with one expert stroke, sliced him open. Golden dust exploded into the air and I backed away coughing. Now that the danger was over, I was exhausted.

"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING!" Maleah suddenly came shoving right past me, knocking into my injured shoulder. I gasped in pain. Annabeth came over, supporting a still-dazed Nico.

Eddie stood up, transforming back into her normal form. I was glad to see that she wasn't backing down from her sister, "Hmmmmm I don't know. Maybe I saw that all you guys were getting your asses handed to you so I thought maybe I'll help out some." she snapped out, her eyes flashing in rage.

"Wait a second Mel," annabeth started to say, but Mel cut her off.

"This isn't your business Annie." I saw Annabeth's face turn red at that, she hated being called Annie. Mel didn't notice though, she just went back to chewing out her sister. "What the hell were you thinking Ebony Isa Stryke? I just told you. Keep your head down. Stay out of the fight. But no, you have to be a hero. And do you want them to not trust you? Because that's what path you're on right now. I can't believe you didn't listen to me? I told you. Stay. Put. You can't even do the simplest thing!"

"I'M LEADING THIS QUEST NOT YOU." Eddie screamed back, clenching her fists to her side, "Stop trying to control me for once in your life an let me do what I think is right."

"Stop!" I said suddenly, realizing how quickly this could spiral out of control. I whistled an darns. O'Leary limped over and placed herself between the two of them. "Let's not argue about this please? I don't care if you can turn into fifty animals, or two. All I care about is that I'm tired, my shoulder hurts, and it's well past midnight. So stop acting like a bunch of two year olds, let's all settle in for the night, and heal up. We still have along way to go."

My dog took settle-down literally. Yawning, she lay down between the two of them, and was asleep in seconds. Ebony was still glaring daggers at her sister, but after a few more minutes, Maleah finally walked off. She pulled out her sleeping bag a few feet away from mrs. O'Leary and lay down.

Annabeth took care of Nico first, getting him some ambrosia and setting up his pack for the night. He probably had a nasty concussion but would be fine in the morning. She tried to fix my shoulder next, but i insisted that she check on my dog first. After a few minutes of caring for her, she can back and popped my shoulder back in place, before giving me a square of ambrosia.

All this time, Eddie didn't say a word. She just sat down next to my hellhound, petting her. Those two had bonded quickly. After a little while longer, my girlfriend and I came to an unspoken agreement.

"Hey Ed," I whispered, trying to wake Mel or Nico. "Why don't you get some sleep? Annabeth and I can take first watch." she opened her mouth like she wanted to argue, then apparently decided against it. She nodded, and started to shift until she was the black leopard again. Then she leaned up against Mr's O'Leary.

I sat down next to Annabeth, looking up at the stars. She didn't grab my hand like normal, instead, she put her arm around my back and leaned into me. Without hesitating, I wrapped my arms around her, and pulled her in close. I would be lost without my wise girl by my side. But if I'm being dead honest, I was hoping she would relax and maybe not discuss the quest. No such luck tonight though.

"Percy?" She said after a few moments, "Can we talk?"

I smiled, it would never change. I knew her too well, "I'm all ears."

She shifted uncomfortably, then "Does something feel off about this? The entire quest?"

"So you've felt it too?"

"There's nothing! We're basing this off of nothing but dreams and a prophecy. This just, there's no point behind this quest. We're trying to stop something from escaping from Hades palace? When has a quest ever been that open ended?"

I sighed, "I've been thinking the same thing. I haven't had the heart to tell Mel, or Eddie. But I feel like we're being set up here."

"I can't help but think..." she said slowly.

"You never can."

She gave me a small smile, but it almost instantly vanished, "What if someone at camp set this up? The prophecy warned of betrayal."

"If someone at camp set this up, then this could be a death trap." For a moment, I felt panic clutch at me. We had all taken on this quest in a moments notice. We didn't question it. We had a young, inexperienced leader, a bad number of quest members, and no idea what we would be facing. I couldn't but remember the panic that almost overtook the half-bloods that defended Olympus when we were trying to figure out who the spy was. I knew I couldn't let that panic start affecting me.

I shook my head. "If it is a setup by someone, we'll figure it out together. We always do. We defeated Kronos. We defeated Gaia. We'll defeat this new threat."

I could tell Annabeth didn't want to drop it. I could almost see the gears turning in her head. She couldn't stop thinking about it I just sat there, waiting for the epiphany that was sure to come. And sure enough, after a few minutes, she gasped, "Percy... Why are there campers from minor gods at camp this winter? Not many, but enough for it to be questionable. Who do we know that would be able to manipulate dreams and use magic to get what they want?"

"Um, Carter and Sadie? Or Hazel?"

"No seaweed brain. How about Lou and Austin?"

I thought about it. Lou was the head counselor for the Hecate cabin, and her boyfriend was Austin Planch. The head counselor for the Morpheus cabin. It kind of made sense, if Austin was able to manipulate my dreams. But I also wasn't sure if it was possible to do that. I didn't know much about Morpheus' children or their abilities. I didn't know if, combined with magic, the two of them could have done it.

"But why?" I finally asked. I'll be honest, I didn't know the two of them that well. I hadn't really talked to them much in the summers, especially since I usually hung out with Annabeth or the members of the quest to Greece.

She just shrugged, "Let's see if we can talk to Chiron, maybe he'll have an idea. Outside of power, I don't see a motive. And neither of them strike me as power hungry."

I nodded in agreement and pulled a drachma out of my pocket. Annabeth shone the flashlight on her phone into the smoke from the fire to create a rainbow. I tossed in the drachma and said "Fleecy, do me a solid and show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood." Which earned me a weird look from my girlfriend. Thankfully she didn't question it.

The smoke rippled, and a moment later Chiron was there, blinking sleep out of his eyes. I realized how early it was in the morning, maybe 3 or 4 am. "Percy? And Annabeth? How is the quest going, is there a problem?"

Annabeth and I exchanged another glance, "Well…" I started, "We had a thought…."

Annabeth took over, explaining our suspicions about the quest. Probably a good thing that she did the talking. She explained things much better than I could. She wrapped it up by saying, "We have an idea of who it is, but no motive. I now it's going to sound weird, and I don't want to blame my fellow campers but," she hesitated looking over at me, "Chiron, are Lou and Austin still at camp?"

The look on his face told me all that I needed to know, "They left shortly after you guys did." He sighed and looked away for a moment, "I would hate to think of two young adults in love betraying their friends. But it is suspicious, with the timing and the confusion surrounding this quest."

I closed my eyes for a long moment, taking a deep breath in. At least if they were betraying us, it wouldn't be as bad as when Luke betrayed me. I didn't consider them friends. But t the same time, they were an important part of camp. Part of my family. "Thank you Chiron, we'll keep in touch."

"Percy, you still look troubled."

I had to look down at my feet to avoid another glance with Annabeth. We were both thinking the same thing. The way Ebony had turned into a leopard during the odonto attack. I felt like Ebony and Mel had so many hidden secrets, hidden abilities, and it terrified me. I could only imagine how much it scared Annabeth as well. We were dealing with two incredibly powerful half-bloods. "No Chiron, it's nothing." I finally managed to get out, "Have a good night, we'll be in touch soon."

Annabeth nodded and turned the light off on her phone. The rainbow vanished, along with Chiron. We didn't say anything, just cuddled up together once more to watch the stars. But I still couldn't relax. Even when Maleah came to take over watch. Annabeth fell asleep right away, but I still couldn't. All I could think about were the sisters. Daughters of Nyx. I remembered when I had faced down the goddess of night herself. How she had radiated power. The way Eddie and Mel radiated that very same power. After today, I trusted both of them with my life. But at the same time, it was like I was looking into the future. The future of what path they would take. And Eddie, she already had so much power with her transformations. If she embraced her powers, and took the wrong path, I knew no one would be able to stop her.


	6. Beautiful Monsters KeepTrying to Kill Me

**Chapter 5: Ebony**

 **Beautiful Monsters Keep Trying to Kill Me**

* * *

Sleep didn't come easy. And by that I mean it didn't come at all. I was annoyed. I was mad at my sister, I was frustrated that Nico and Percy had gotten hurt, and I was worried. The prophecy didn't make any sense. The stupid quest didn't make any sense. And I wanted to go back to school. I could spend my afternoons in the woods with my best friend, and spend my evenings with my sister. But no, I had to get attacked. It was my dumb fault that we had ended up at camp, and my fault that no one trusted us. If I was being honest I couldn't blame them. I didn't even trust myself half the time.

I stared out into the forest. Being a daughter of the night goddess, I had perfect night vision. In fact, I think I saw better at night than I did during the day. I could see small creatures snuffling around. Black shadows cast weird shapes over the dark ground. The filtered moonlight cast the world into a beautiful scale of silver. I once again found myself wishing that I could be with Artemis. I felt so alive in the wild. Maybe if I survived this she would let me join. Or I could live with the Grey pack forever.

"Ebbie?" I heard the voice in my head.

I couldn't help but smile. After I had saved her father, Nuka and I had been able to communicate in our heads. No matter how far we were from each other, we were still connected. She called it an empathy link. Which basically meant that whenever I started thinking about her, or the Grey pack, she knew about it, and vice versa. She also called me Ebbie instead of Eddie, which I loved. Mel once told me that she used to call me Ebbie when I was little, but I had trouble saying that. Apparently I would point at myself in the mirror and say "Eddie" and that just happened to stick.

"Hey Nuka!" I said back, "So far I'm still alive which I count as pretty impressive."

"Do you need help?"

I should also explain that she can appear wherever I'm at, if needed.

"No, well not yet. we're actually headed to the underworld..." I hesitated, "It's weird though."

"What's weird about it?"

"Well, I overheard Percy and Annabeth talking tonight."

"Wait!" Her voice was excited, "You're traveling with Percy Jackson and Annabeth Chase? They're LEGENDS."

"Yeah!" I said brightly, "They're so much fun. Annabeth is like a second big sister, and Percy is what I would imagine a brother being like. I'm also traveling with Nico Di'Angelo. He's pretty cool, a little weird."

"Is your sister with you?" Nuka never liked Maleah. She thought she was a bit stuck up and over controlling. Which was true, but she was still my sister.

"Yeah, it's a big group of us. And naturally we're currently in the middle of the woods with no transportation."

"Well you could fly out if you wanted to. Would only take an hour or so for you to get to the underworld at the speed you go right?"

"Nuka I can't just leave my quest members!" I heard her snort in my head but I continued, "Next time I'm on a quest though, you're coming with me. I miss you."

"I miss you too!" She let out a low whine, "It sucks that I haven't seen my closest friend in almost five months!"

Now that she had mentioned it, the familiar ache came to my heart. We had grown so close so fast. After our first meeting, we had spent so many days hanging out together, just talking, play fighting, going for runs, and even hunting together. I knew that as long as I lived, I would never find a friend like her. "I know, but we'll talk every night okay? And I'll see you soon I promise." I heard Nico stirring nearby, and I instantly sat up, "Hey I have to go, looks like everyone is waking up and ready to continue with the quest."

"Okay and call me there if you need ANYTHING. I mean Ebbie."

I promised her I would, then I pushed out of the empathy link. The emptiness settled on me for a moment, and I had to fight it off. Then I jumped to my feet and went to see how everyone was doing.

Percy and Annabeth were whispering together as I walked over. Mrs. O'Leary bounded off into the woods, probably looking for a morning snack. Nico looked much better, his head wound completely healed. And Mel pointedly turned her back to me when I approached, still holding a grudge about the night before.

"So," I said a little too enthusiastically as I joined the group, "Where to now?"

Nico looked up at me, "You're leading, it's your choice."

"Ummmm, anyone have a credit card?"

Percy sighed and started digging through his pack. A moment later, he pulled his wallet out, "My parents said its for emergencies and college spending." He muttered, "But I guess this kind of counts as an emergency?"

"Okay well, I was going to suggest stealing a car to drive out west but since you have a card..."

"We're not stealing a car!" Annabeth said suddenly. "We're not criminals you know." She sounded like Maleah, going into mom mode.

Nico shrugged, "Personally I would be okay with stealing a car."

"Technically I've done it before." Percy added in.

"No!" Mel gasped, "Annabeth is right, We're not going to be thieves and villains to get a ride to LA!"

I tried to hide my smirk when I saw Nico roll his eyes. I could see myself building a good friendship with that guy. I held up my hands in surrender, "Okay okay. Let's just walk to the nearest town on foot and rent a car."

We spent the next thirty minutes find our way out of the woods. Without the stars and the moon to guide me, it was actually harder for me to find the path out in the daytime. Mrs. O'Leary didn't return to us either. Percy told us she probably went back to camp to rest some. She was a hellhound, so she could appear anywhere when called. Eventually we came out at the edge of a country road that ran through the woods. We hiked to a convenience store nearby and got instructions to the nearest car rental. After a little bit more walking, and a lot of strange looks, we finally reached the place.

I was both worried and impressed with how far we had gone with no attacks. We waited in the lobby for twenty minutes as Percy got the car rented. Then we all piled in and started once again on our drive out west.

We all broke off into separate conversations as we drove. Percy and Annabeth talked about his latest dream, and Mel and Nico started talking about strategies to get into the underworld. I just leaned against the window, watching the scenery. At one point, I thought I saw two black horses go racing by. Later, I could have sworn I saw a giant boar. Still we drove on. A herd of centaurs galloped by a little while later. At this point we all had stopped talking and Percy had cranked up the music. We stopped to get gas, and then hit the road again. We passed through St. Louis and over the boarder into Missouri.

Nico finally got me talking. "So a dragon and a leopard? Anything else?"

Mel was glaring daggers at me, probably warning me to keep my mouth shut. But I didn't care, not this time.

"You said you had a friend who could be whatever he wanted to be, right?"

"Yep." Percy chimes in, "My good friend Frank Zhang, son of Mars."

"He's Roman?" Mel said, like it was the most foreign concept in the world. I had to agree with her. Roman and Greek demigods was a weird concept to think about.

"Yeah, but he's a good kid." Percy continued, "He can be anything he wants to be. A weasel, an elephant, a swarm of bees, a dolphin, a giant eagle... you name it and he can be it."

"Well yeah," I said slowly, "I'm not the same as that. I basically got on Artemis' good side a few years ago." I paused, but no one asked questions so I continued. "I actually wanted to join the Hunt. But apparently the other gods weren't allowing it because of a prophecy of some sort. So instead she offered to grant me a wish. And I wanted to be able to do what Frank does. Be anything."

"That's why you can be a leopard, and a dragon." Annabeth said. I could tell that she was trying to piece the puzzle together. A true daughter of Athena.

"But she couldn't exactly do that." Mel added.

I nodded in agreement. "Exactly. She told me that the power to shapeshifter is great and dangerous. And unlimited power comes with curses. So she told me I choose three creatures. Mythical or normal, but only three. So I chose dragon first. I've always been captivated by them then I decided on a leopard. They're very powerful animals: good climbers, good swimmers, good fighters, good hunters. And then I chose my favorite animal of all. A wolf. So that's it. Wolf, dragon, leopard."

"That's useful." Nico said, nodding like he had given it a lot of thought.

"It would be more useful if she could keep it a secret." Maleah hissed under her breath, "But no you have to show off all the time."

"Excuse me, but I'm pretty sure I saved all of your lives yesterday." I snapped back.

"Can you guys go like two minutes without arguing?" Annabeth turned around in the front seat to look at us.

"Sorry we don't all get along fine and dandy like you and lover boy." My sister said rolling her eyes.

"Hey I'm not 'lover boy'!" Percy cried, offended.

"You know there's a problem when I keep having to be the peacemaker." Nico chimed in.

"Can we stop for a minute please guys?" I growled out, "And Mel, it's my powers and my decisions. Stop trying to be my mom. You're my sister not my boss. Can we drive for a few hours and listen to some music without arguing?"

Everyone muttered in agreement. Percy once again cranked up the tunes and stepped on the gas.

We made good time during the day. After clearing through Missouri, and entering Kansas, we got off the highway to fill up on gas. I was starting to grow uneasy, still no sense of danger. No monster had appeared all day. We drove a little longer, before we started to get close to the city. Traffic got heavy, and we decided to find a place to eat instead of attempting to clear the city during rush hour.

He found a restaurant to eat at right near the Arkansas river. I understood why he had driven so far off the highway. The dude probably wanted to be near water in case something or someone decided to attack us. Looking back on it, it was a brilliant strategy.

"Food." Mel and Annabeth said wistfully as they stepped out of the car. I had to agree with them. After a full day on the road, I was starving. I ordered some pasta and watched as the sun set over the river. It was beautiful. Orange and pink streaks reflected on the river. Birds circled overhead. I could see the moon beginning to rise as well.

"So what does everyone think about spending the night here?" Maleah asked.

"That sounds like a good idea, if Ebony is okay with it." Annabeth agreed. Percy and Nico nodded their agreement, they were too busy shoving food down their throat to respond.

I was slightly annoyed that my sister seemed to be taking the lead. At least Annabeth was treating me like the leader of the quest. Then I told myself to stop being an idiot. My sisters idea made sense. She wasn't trying to steal my spotlight, she was just trying to help. I kind of wanted to keep traveling. Keep moving during the night because it was easier for me. But the rest of the crew, Mel aside, probably didn't want to do that. I also knew most monsters were nocturnal and attacked at night.

"All right, it's a plan." I agreed, though rather reluctantly, "There's probably someone in this restaurant who knows a good hotel. We can"

I broke off. There was a loud screech outside. No one else seemed concerned, and I was pretty certain I was the only one who could hear it. That was one of the perks of being able to transform into other animals. My senses were heightened. I couldn't really explain, but it was similar to the night vision. I could sense shadows and almost see the heat wave signatures of animals at night. In a way, I could hear, smell, and see things using my animal senses without being that animal. It's hard to explain. There was another loud cry. That definitely wasn't natural.

"What is it?" Nico said, tilting his head to the side. He must have noticed my long silence.

"Do you hear that?"

""I don't hear anything?" Annabeth said softly.

We were all frozen now, listening for any sounds out of the ordinary. Then I heard it again, this time it was even louder and closer than before.

"Yep, I heard that." Percy shoved his chair back from the table and leapt to his feet. Annabeth set down her fork, a confused expression crossing her face. Mel jumped to her feet as well, her hand reaching for her sword. Thankfully, Nico thought quicker than all of us. He pulled out a handful of cash and tossed it on the table. I don't think any of us wanted to become thieves. Then we all ran outside.

I scanned the sky, trying to find the source of the noise. It kind of sounded like the gryphon, but higher pitched. I saw Percy scanning the water for any signs of water demons. A second later he jumped in and disappeared. Annabeth rolled her eyes, "He always does this." she muttered

"Let's split up." Mel suggested, looking at me to make sure it was okay. When I nodded she continued, "I'll stick with my sister and we'll check along the bank. If you two wanted to go upstream and check out the tree line then maybe we can figure out where the sound is coming from."

"Or." Nico said, "We can all stay together and when Percy comes back, we can get the hell out of town."

"Not in a fighting mood?" I asked, raising my eyebrows.

He shrugged, "I did get knocked out yesterday. Not really in the mood to repeat. And a nice warm bed sounds more appealing than fighting a monster."

Annabeth nudged him "Come on ghost king." Ghost king? What was that about?

"So are we splitting up?" I asked once more.

They nodded and took off together, weapons at the ready. Mel and I both drew our weapons as well and began to walk downstream in the opposite direction. Our black weapons blended in well with the darkness that were starting to stretch in all directions. The sun was sinking behind the city, and the tall skyscrapers cast long shadows across the ground. My suspicions were confirmed. The monster had been waiting until dusk to attack us.

Then I heard the scream again, and there it was. It was an eagle, except this thing was the size of a small biplane. Like the gryphon, it was annoyingly beautiful. He was dark grey, with long black wings. His wingspan had to be twenty feet at least. A row of white feathers ran along the underside of his wings. He had yellow eyes, a yellow beak, and long curved talons. The eagle's beak was wicked sharp. His talons looked like carving knives. His beady eyes met mine and he screamed again.

I ran through the Greek Mythology that I knew, but I wasn't sure what the eagle was called. There was a giant eagle who had rescued some demigod long ago, and one sent by Zeus to torment Prometheus. But I could not remember a story about a giant black eagle going on a murder rampage. If only Annabeth was here; she would know.

"I have an idea!" Mel whispered, backing up towards me. I nodded, not sure what else to do. I wanted to change, but there were too many people around. It was weird enough that they were about to see two girls attacking what probably looked like a plane. The mist would do something for us, but not enough to hide a dragon.

"On my mark, go left. Target the wings. I'll keep it distracted up front. If we can get it grounded, a frontal attack by the two of us should be enough to take it down." My sister murmured to me. She was keeping her eyes on the beast, tracking its movements.

I nodded, distract and attack. A simple plan, but one that rarely failed. We had fought many monsters together, and this usually worked. Crouching down into a ready stance, I got ready to pounce. The eagle had seen us by now. It circled around, letting out more screams of fury. Then, it plunged and dove towards us.

"NOW!"

On her command, I leapt forward. I sprang straight up into the air, slashing at his wings. He moved with blinding speed. My first attack missed completely as the eagle twisted out of the way. I landed in a perfect roll and came up on my feet. A second leap was more successful, I managed to get a good strike on his wing. But the eagle pulled into the air once more. Feathers came spiraling down around me, but I hadn't done much damage. It still wasn't enough to keep him on the ground. I could hear Maleah challenging him, but I couldn't turn to look. The eagle flew high up and circled. He looked like one of the eagle's on planet earth, getting ready to plunge in for the kill. And his target was my sister. I stayed focused on his wings. After on more circle, he folded his dark wings and plummeted towards Mel. I waited. He got closer and closer…. NOW! I took a risk and threw my knife. It was a perfect shot. The knife was embedded in his wing. He could still fly, but just barely. I pulled out my second knife, sure I was going to get him this time. As he lowered to the ground once more, I charged.

But for some reason, Mel's distraction had failed. Right before I plunged my knife into his wing again, he turned on me. His yellow eyes stared straight into mine. Then his wing slammed into me. I got knocked off my feet. Before I was able to recover, his talons swiped across me. My back exploded into agony. I knew it was a bad cut.

I heard him above me and I rolled over on my side. The eagle flapped his wings and then lunged towards me once more. I scrambled away desperately on all fours. All I could do was try to avoid that long beak, and the razor sharp talons that could shred me. Pain lanced through my entire body as I struggled desperately to get away, injured and bleeding. "MEL HELP!" I yelled. But I wasn't sure if she had heard me.

I prepared myself for the killing strike. But it never came. Thank the gods for experienced half-bloods. Because at that moment, the Arkansas river exploded. A torrent of water slammed into the eagle, knocking it away from me. Percy rode a wave directly to the feet of him. He stood above me, waving his sword and yelling in defiance. I lay down breathing heavily in pain. I was out of this fight. Mel finally appeared again. She raised her sword, joining forces with the Son of Poseidon. Together they began to drive it back towards the river. As soon as the eagle's tail touched the water, Percy thrust out his hand and a huge wave wrapped around the eagles body. The poor creature struggled, but Percy was too powerful. The wave finally pulled the eagle under and it washed away down the stream.

"Well that sucked." I groaned, from where I still lay on the sand. I tried to sit up.

"Stay there!" Mel sounded close to panic, she was sprinting back towards me. "You're hurt, oh my gods."

She knelt down next to me. My back hurt pretty bad, so for once I didn't complain about her overprotectiveness. Percy turned and waved frantically upstream, where the other members of our quest had run off too. Annabeth and Nico came running over a moment later. Thankfully Annabeth had some ambrosia on her and she gave me a square.

"What was it?" she asked me.

I shrugged, managing to sit up as my cuts started to heal, "Some giant eagle. Grey and black, size of a very small plane, or maybe a large car. Beady eyes and a super sharp beak. And talons that hurt like a bitch."

"I can't believe it." she gasped, "That was the caucasian eagle."

"Wouldn't it be white then?" Percy chimed in.

Annabeth smirked, "No Seaweed Brain, it's the eagle that Zeus sent to Prometheus' liver after he gave humanity fire. He chained him to the rock and the eagle was supposed to feed on him for eternity."

"That's disgusting." Mel said.

"Why did he have scratches on his face then?" Percy asked.

"Why would I know?"Annabeth said, rolling her eyes, "The point is that the eagle doesn't have any reason to attack half-bloods. So were back to someone summoning it here."

"That's great." I muttered as Percy pulled me to my feet. "Really perfect. I vote we all go to a motel and sleep on this new information, because my brain already hurts from trying to piece everything together."

Thankfully, they all agreed with me. Nico asked Percy if he could drive us to the hotel. I guess, being 15, he was eager to start driving. After a lot of arguing, he agreed and we drove about ten minutes to a rundown motel on the edge of The city, close to the river. Before we went inside, Percy whistled loudly. His hellhound melted out of the shadows. She bounded towards us, her tail threatening to take out the cars in the parking lot.

"Easy there girl!" Percy said, as the dog jumped on him and gave him a big sloppy kiss, "Yes I love you too. Ready for a nice night of rest?"

She barked enthusiastically, then started chasing her tail. I loved dogs. She caught her tail, and looked to Percy for approval he gave her two thumbs up and she responded with another lick right to his face. I could tell Nico was trying not to crack up. Finally, she shrunk back down to the size of a large mastiff and obediently walked next to her owner.

We had to pay extra for a dog stay, but it was definitely worth it. We all felt safer having a good monster by our side. Plus she was sweet and entertaining.

The room was got was pretty nice. It had two queen beds, a full bathroom with a shower and a tub, a fridge and a microwave, and a large tv. We all took turns showering and getting clean clothes. The hotel was near the river, with a good view of the city. Nico took over the remote and started watching some comedy show. I stood by the window and looked out at the city. Even from the outskirts, I could still hear the cars rushing by. The bright lights reflected off the water, and was quite beautiful to look it. I was sure Percy felt safe being so close to the water

Around midnight we Salk started to get to bed. Percy and Annabeth took one of the queen beds. Mrs. O'Leary curled up on the end, and was asleep on their feet almost instantly. I offered to sleep on the floor but Nico insisted that I take the bed. So me and Mel crashed together.

Everyone fell asleep pretty fast. Driving cross country was more exhausting than what it seemed. But Mel stayed up. I thought I knew what was coming, nag mode, but she surprised me.

"You're doing really good you know." She said

I blinked in surprise, "Well, if you count almost letting Nico die and then almost dying less than 24 hours later as good..."

"Hey Ebony, I mean it."

I flipped over onto my other side. Her eyes were sincere. She didn't look concerned or annoyed with me. Instead she looked proud. "I don't know what I'm doing." I confessed.

She smiled, "Well I would be a bit concerned if you knew everything that was going on. No one is perfect. But you have really stepped up to your role. I would never have suggested you should lead the quest, or even go one it, if I didn't believe in you."

"But why? Why do you believe in me so much? I haven't done much to prove that I belong here. All I've done is be an outcast my entire life. People don't like me. They don't like my personality. And if it's a demigod, they don't trust me. I have not done enough to deserve so much faith put in me."

"You haven't done enough?" Mel gave me a stern glance, "When you were five you managed to fight off a monster by yourself. When you were seven you saved me from a different monster. You were the one who gained the favor of a god. You saved us all from the odontotyrannos yesterday. I've been with you your entire life. All you have ever done is prove to me, over and over again, that you are strong and powerful."

I scoffed, "You're just saying this because you are my sister."

"Exactly." She said, deadly serious, "I KNOW you more than anyone out there. I have seen you, at your best and your worst. I love you more than anything in this world. You have such a good heart, and you never give up. You want to know why I believe in you? It's because I trust you with my entire being. It is because when the going gets tough, you keep going. It is because when the world comes crashing down around you, you stand up and say to the world 'I am Ebony Stryke and no one breaks me down.'"

"I think you put too much faith in me." I managed to get out. My eyes were a bit misty. It felt so good to hear someone praising me and acknowledging my good qualities instead of focusing on my bad ones.

"One day I hope you can see yourself the way I see you."

I blinked back tears and pulled her into a hug. Her approval was all I ever needed to feel right again. And she was right. "Thanks sis." I finally said as we broke apart.

"Sometimes you just need a reminder you airhead." She said jokingly, giving me a little shove, "Now try to get some sleep. We have more traveling to do in the morning."

I muttered good night, and She turned back over. After a few minutes I realized that she was asleep. I wanted to follow suite. But once again, my eyes refused to close. I thrashed around for a bit, and that was when I felt it. There was something outside the window. But the presence wasn't sinister. It was dark, but not evil if that makes any sense. I crept over and opened the blinds a crack, peering out towards the river. And that was when I saw them. Two beautiful black horses. They were gorgeous, darker than the night itself. A thin sliver of moonlight shone down on them. They were stunningly beautiful. Long forelocks fell into their glimmering eyes. They were looking straight at me. Then both horses reared up together and turned to smoke, vanishing into the night.

* * *

 _ **Next chapter should be up between Wednesday and Friday. Reviews and likes are appreciated!**_


	7. We Receive Multiple Confusing Warnings

We decided to change things up on the next day of our quest and we almost died in the morning.

Let me back up a little bit. Our second day had been so ridiculously exhausting. Which didn't make sense because I had literally driven a car for ten hours. Then, just as the sun was going down, we got attacked (surprise!) by yet another odd monster. All five of us had been so tired afterwards that we just crashed at some random hotel. The plan was to get up early and continue driving out west. We were making really good time across the country, which of course probably meant things were about to go terribly wrong.

Annabeth set her phone alarm for 6 am. Which was a mistake. I've never seen a group of people so angry over an alarm before in my entire life.

When it went off, Nico was the first one to voice his displeasure, "Shut that damn thing up before I break it in half." He snapped across the room. He grabbed a pillow from the couch and shoved it over his head.

Maleah rolled on to her other side, mumbling "Hit snooze Lover boy."

But the best reaction was Ebony's. At the sound of the alarm, she leapt out of bed, pulling out her knife: that I had retrieved from the river the other night. Her green eyes were wide in shock as she jumped into a ready stance. As soon as she realized it was An alarm, her face morphed into one of pure anger. "Okay, if that thing isn't shut off in the next two seconds..." she glared at Annabeth for a moment. Thankfully, my girlfriend decided to turn it off instead of argue.

"Great." Eddie snapped, "I'm awake now." She jumped to her feet and walked to the bathroom, still grumbling under her breath.

Annabeth winked at me, and got up to get ready. It took some time, but eventually Nico and Mel started to get ready. I could tell they still weren't happy about the early wake up time. Especially Nico. He reminded me more than once that "With great power comes great need to take a nap. And sleep. Let me sleep." I figured we had a long day ahead of us, with Nico complaining the entire time.

Finally we all grabbed a quick breakfast from the motel and piled into the car. Mrs. O'Leary jumped in the back seat next to Ebony, who she had decided was her next favorite person behind me. We drove for a few hours, and then Nico started complaining that he was hungry. Next time, I was definitely not inviting him on a quest. We pulled off the highway towards a city that was called "Great Bend." Naturally, my poor judgment realized too late that the city was a good 25 minutes off the highway. If you've ever driven a car with three hungry children of the underworld, here's a bit of advice for you: Don't. Eddie was so hangry by the time we got to the city, that she was snapping at everyone who asked her a question.

I found a nice place by the edge of the river, again. Thankfully, no one complained about my choice of stops. We all piled out of the car and started to walk along the river towards a fast food restaurant nearby. It was a nice day, sunny and warm. I suggested that we could get our food and eat on the grass by the shore and everyone agreed with me. We didn't make it far though when I heard a strange sound. It sounded like the ocean. I froze and turned towards the water. It had been calm just a few minutes ago. Now large waves were sloshing against the shore.

The water started to boil in the river. That couldn't be good. My dog inched closer, peering into the water. She started to growl, seeing something that I wasn't. Around me, my friends started pulling out their weapons. Two black swords, a black knife, and a drakon knife. I uncapped Riptide. Mrs. O'Leary snarled and scrambled backwards. And then the river exploded.

I was not a fan of the water exploding if it wasn't my own doing. A massive sea serpent exploded out of the water. It was a dark blue, with an orange underbelly. Massive spikes ran the length of it's back, with fins spreading between them. It had two large front legs, with webbed claws. It had the head of a dragon. It turned and roared at us, revealing a forked tongue and teeth that resembled knives. It placed his two legs on the shore, and lashed it's tail out of the water. His tail was a large orange fin, incredibly muscled and powerful.

He lunged towards us, and Mrs. O'Leary snarled and leapt on his head. Nico clapped his hands, and a large rock exploded out of the ground. It was a brilliant move. The serpent got a mouthful of stone, instead of snapping up Mel.

"What the hell is that thing?" Eddie snapped, turning to Annabeth for answers.

"That's the Ethiopian Cetus!"

I dodged the serpents tail as it lashed towards me, rising me by maybe two inches. "Explain please!"

Annabeth and Eddie darted in together, managing to avoid it's snapping head and lashing tail. Eddie threw her knife, hitting it in the leg. Annabeth dove in behind her, driving her knife into his neck. She pulled it out and ducked into a role, just as Eddie darted in to retrieve her knife. It was an amazing move, well coordinated. Unfortunately, it didn't do anything except make the monster mad. The two girls retreated together, breathing heavily. My hellhound continued to snarl and scratch at his head, her favorite attack method.

"Percy, do you remember anything?" Annabeth chided. I was working with Mel and nico now, as she recovered. "This monster was sent to punish Queen Kassiopeia's…."

"History lesson later!" Mel interrupted. "How do we kill it?"

Annabeth didn't answer, never a good thing. The five of us backed up together. "Eddie, any chance you can keep it distracted from the air?" she nodded and backed up. A second later, I heard a whoosh of wings, followed by a sonic boom. Then, things went downhill fast. My poor pet was flung off his head, and she landed hard on the ground with a yelp. Then the creature lashed out with his head, snapping at me and Nico. I dove to the side, and straight into the serpent's tail. I had been so distracted with the toothed end that I had completely forgotten about the boomerang tail. I fell to the ground, clutching my head. I was sure I had a nasty concussion.

Never trust an idea that comes to you when you've just been hit in the head. I saw my three friends, still dodging head and tail. They were managing to avoid getting injured, but nothing more. Eddie was flying around it's head, trying to keep it distracted. But it was fast and deadly. So I did a smart thing. With blurred vision and a drum section pounding away at my head, I ran forward and jumped with all my might. Just as the monster put his head down to lash at me. I managed to jump over the teeth and landed on the creatures neck.

I honestly don't remember much of what happened after that. Except for the obvious: never piggyback a monster. It just doesn't work. My head was already throbbing as I jumped on the sea creatures back. But I had some misguided notion that I could wrestle with a 5 ton serpent. I quickly learned two things. One, there is a huge difference between salt water and fresh water, and the stupid river definitely didn't revive me as much as the ocean. Two, when you get hit in the head a second time within five minutes, odds are that you'll pass out. Which is exactly what I did.

* * *

I woke up at the bottom of the river. Thankfully it wasn't nearly as polluted as the New York rivers, that had been disgusting. It still wasn't as nice as being at the bottom of the ocean though. My clothes were dry like normal. For a second I just sat there, casually relaxing at the bottom of a river. Then I remembered. The Ethiopian Cetus. The attack my friends. I jumped to my feet (which is strange to do in water) ready to swim to the surface.

"Don't worry, they're okay." I nearly jumped out of my skin. Without hesitating, I pulled out riptide and twisted in the water.

Standing, or floating I guess, in front of me was... "Dad?" I gasped out. He looked the same as normal, with a tangled black beard, smile creases around his eyes, which were sea green like mine, and holding his trident. For a minute I was too shocked to say anything. The last time I saw Poseidon was... wow it had been shortly after the giant war.

"Percy." He gave me a friendly smile, but I could tell it was slightly forced, "Your friends are safe. Night's children are very... resourceful." I'm guessing he had a different word in mind but I didn't push it.

"Dad." I repeated, "What are you doing here? I thought gods weren't allowed to interact directly with quests?"

"And what god has ever followed that order?"

He had a point there. I'm pretty sure every quest I was ever on had a god involved, in some way or another. I still couldn't wrap my mind around the fact that my father was here, in the middle of Kansas. The bad feelings about the quest all came creeping up. Poseidon was looking at me expectantly, as if waiting for me to respond. So I told him everything. My dreams, Nico's dreams, ordering the quest, the prophecy, and how Annabeth was convinced that the quest was a setup for some grand plan.

I finally stopped talking and I realized that my dad was frowning down at me, "I agree. There is something fishy," the corners of his lip twitched as he tried not to smile at his own home, then he continued "About this entire quest. But that is not why I'm here. I'm here because I have valuable information on what is to come."

"What is coming?"

"I do not know. None of us do. But there is a battle coming. No sense of who it is between, all we know is that the Match will be perfect across all aspects. It should end in a draw but one will take victory and decide the fate of the gods."

"Great, another bit of very helpful information." I said sarcastically

"Percy, the world is changing. Two powers that have never met before will combine. And there is a price being paid from gifts of long ago."

I wanted to yell at him. He was being so ridiculously vague. What kind of useful information could I possibly get from this talk? But I figured that screaming at an all powerful god wouldn't be good for my health, even if said god was also my father. Finally I got control of myself long enough to nod respectfully to him, "Thank you Dad. I will try to work out the meaning of what you have told me."

He smiled at me again, clearly hearing the sarcasm in my words, "I wish I could stay longer Percy, but I must be going. But I do have gift for you." And on that note he melted into the current and vanished. Don't you just love it when a god makes a special visit to talk to you and then vanishes without helping?

I blinked down in shock. There was a knife laying in the sand, that was definitely not there before. I reached to it and piked it up. Instantly, memories flooded my mind. Images of my girlfriend fighting through hordes of monsters in New York. Her fighting against Luke on Mount Olympus…. With a gasp I picked it up. It was the same knife that been lost in Tartarus. I don't know how my dad had found it, or where, but it was back. Annabeth was going to be so happy. Smiling to myself, I summoned the currents around me and shot to the surface.

When I got to the shore, I saw my friends having a picnic. Mrs. O'Leary was snoring in the sun next to them. Glad to see they were worried about me.

"Hey Percy." Annabeth said casually. She patted the grass next to her. "Come join us?"

"How did you…"

"Oh that?" Eddie said, "Sea Monsters are flammable." Nico gave her a sideways glance, but I didn't ask questions. Instead I walked forward and sat next to Annabeth. I set her knife down next to her and started to chow down on a peanut butter sandwich.

For a few minutes we all snacked in silence. Kind of funny that this was my life. Fight a monster, spend a few hours knocked out at the bottom of a river, have a chat with my dad, the immortal sea-god, then have lunch. Just another day in paradise. Or on a quest. Whichever you prefer.

All of a sudden Annabeth gasped. I tried to hide my smile; she had discovered the knife. "How did? Percy where? You found it? But I thought… it was lost in Tartarus!" She picked up the knife and turned it over in her hands. She grasped it gently, like an old friend. I didn't try to answer her flood of questions. I just watched her, waiting for a response. Finally she turned towards me, her smile fading slightly.

"It was on the bottom of the river?" I nodded, deciding not to tell her about my meeting with Poseidon, "I can't thank you enough for this but…." she turned the knife over in her hands, "But this knife. It has too many bad memories, and things I'm trying to move on from. Things I have already moved on past and." she trailed off. I looked at her for a long moment and a silent understanding passed between us.

"Let's talk about it later then." I said, taking it back from her and putting it in a bag.

"Percy, we've been talking." Mel said, "And we all agree that we should continue on foot for a little bit."

Eddie breathed out deeply, like she was about to breathe fire, "Yeah, we're all just tired of driving in a car. And Annabeth pulled up the GPS and found a park a few miles away. So we could just go on foot there and find a place to camp for the night." Nobody had a better plan. So we finished eating and started traveling on foot.

* * *

A few hours later, we arrived at the park. The sun was starting to set and I was definitely ready to get some rest. Then I felt a shudder run up my spine. Nico froze, his eyes narrowing as he glanced through the trees. I heard howling. It seemed to come from all directions. Eddie tensed up, and Mel rolled her eyes.

Suddenly, I saw a wolf come darting out of the woods. Immediately followed by another. Then a whole pack came pouring out into the open field. There were at least twenty of them, probably closer to thirty. The wolves were huge. Much bigger than the one's that ran around with Thalia and the hunters. I took a shaky breath. If it came to a fight…. I didn't think there was any way that we could win this one.

"NUKA!" Ebony cried, and a second later a black blur shot past me. The black wolf, which I knew to be Ebony, skidded to a halt in front of a light grey wolf that had come sprinting forward as well. For a moment, the two young animals looked at each other, tails wagging. Then Eddie crouched down like a dog, her tail in the air. With a playful snarl, the grey one leapt on top of her and they began to wrestle.

Realizing that the wolves weren't a threat, I couldn't help but smile. It was the first time that I had actually seen Eddie act like a child. The two were obviously good friends. They broke apart from their tussle and Nuka came streaking by with Eddie in hot pursuit. Annabeth started laughing next to me.

"There's still some innocence left in her." She remarked, a smile playing on her lips as well.

After a few more minutes of chasing each other around, they finally skidded to a halt. Eddie went up to the large solid grey wolf, who must have been the alpha, and bowed to him. Annabeth elbowed me and I figured we might want to do the same. We all bowed to the wolf as well.

"Forgive me." He spoke out loud in a rough growl, "Human speak is hard to master."

Ebony looked to him, and when he nodded she trotted over to us, turning back into her human form. "This is Grey. He is the leader of a wolf pack that is sacred to Artemis. The Grey pack, which was named after him, (which I thought was pretty obvious) has been around since the time of Ancient Greece. His children and pack are immortal, however they can fall if they get injured from a hunt or a battle. Just like the hunters of Artemis! He has had many children with his alpha female over the years. Nuka was born only 7 years ago, she is his youngest child."

"Grey." I said dipping my head respectfully to the wolf, "I am Percy Jackson, I am traveling with Annabeth Chase, Nico Di'Angelo, and Maleah Stryke. Your friend is our quest leader."

"Great heroes from what we have heard. A privilege." He said, dipping his head back to us.

Ebony looked at us once more, "When I was nine, Nuka found me after school. I followed her into the woods and freed Grey from an illegal snare trap set up in New York. After I freed him, Artemis appeared. She offered to grant me a wish for doing her a great service and that is how I come by my powers."

"She saved my Father's life. And she didn't hesitate to help me." This time it was Nuka who spoke up, she didn't struggle as much as her father when it came to speaking English, "We developed a bond and a link."

Eddie nodded, "Nuka is my best friend, and Grey is the closest thing I have to a father. Lady Artemis granted me the ability to turn into three animals of my choosing. She told me that the unlimited power to 'be anything' was unrealistic."

I nodded, taking it all in, "Are you here to help then?"

Grey shook his head, and I saw Nuka glare at him. "We have come for warning. The path is false. Betrayal is near. All I know is that."

"Well that's jolly." I said under my breath, giving Annabeth a sideways glance. Our suspicions kept getting confirmed. Something was off. And if we couldn't figure it out... it was not going to end well.

Grey continued to look at me, his piercing eyes seemed to be searching my soul. "You are a hero. All of you. But you must trust one another and no one."

"Why is it always riddles?" Nico complained.

"Grey..." Eddie started, "Do you know the prophecy?"

The old wolf blinked in surprise, "Ebony, my friend." I assumed he was the only one who could get away with calling her Ebony and not be yelled at or corrected, "You know we do not deal with prophecy. I deal with fact."

"So you don't want to hear it then?" I asked.

"It's a fun one." Nico said under his breath.

"I came with warning only. In peace my friends. One day I hope tohelp you more."

He nodded to Ebony, and I watched as she turned into a wolf again. She trotted up and pressed her nose to him, before bowing respectfully. Nuka let out a soft whine. Then the two of them tackled each other once more, just for the fun of it. They wrestled for only a moment before Grey let out a loud bark. Instantly, his daughter jumped up and nudged Eddie. She turned to head towards the pack, with her best friend taking a playful snap at her ankles as she trotted away.

Eddie turned back to us, her body morphing instantly back into human. I have to admit, it was pretty cool. Her transformation abilities seemed so easy. Honestly, she was much better than Frank. She seemed to be able to change without thinking, and I hadn't seen her get stuck in any form yet.

We all stood together and watched as the pack faded into the woods. I knew Annabeth was already pondering his warning, trying to figure out his words exactly. But that was kind of at the back of my mind. All I could think about was seeing my father in the river. If he had been troubled enough to journey all the way up through a freshwater river... I knew I should tell everyone about our meeting but it didn't seem right.

"Soooooo." Nico cut into my thoughts, "We gonna stand here and wait for an attack or can we set up camp for the night?"

"Camp sounds like a great plan." Mel agreed

I realized that they both turned to me for confirmation. So I did the right thing, I turned to Eddie "Your call."

She nodded, giving me a grateful look, "Let's just camp here for the night. It's not too bad. The rivers right nearby. And next time..." her voice hardened and she glared in fury at her sister and Nico, "Maybe look to the leader of the quest for answers."

They both looked a bit surprised. I was proud of her though. Annabeth was hiding a smile too. We both knew what it felt like to have our authority undermined. And Eddie may be only twelve, but she had a way better handle on this quest than I did on my first quest. She was doing amazing, and she was ridiculously smart.

When Nico and Mel didn't say anything, except look down at their feet, she rolled her eyes. "Well fine, I'm going to grab us some water and food from a gas station. There's one not too far from here. Annabeth, do you mind coming with me?"

She nodded and the two headed off together. Mel and Nico worked together to set up the camp. Meanwhile, I watched as the sun set through the trees. I could just see the bend of the river from where I sat. The dark orange rays from the sun supplied across the surface. The shadow of the trees grew longer and the sky grew darker as the minutes passed. Poseidon's words kept echoing through my mind. Two powers combined. A price to pay for something long ago. I considered telling Annabeth once again, but then quickly dismissed it. Everything was already confusing enough. We didn't need to add more into it.

"You all right Percy?" I jumped nearly a foot in the air. Annabeth and Ed had returned. It was Annabeth who had spoken. She held out a sandwich to me and a bottle of coke. The last of the dying sun cast a glow on her hair. Gods she was beautiful.

"Thanks." I said, returning her smile. She sat next to me and we ate together. I saw Eddie take a couple bites of her sand which before tossing the leftovers to Nico. I saw Annabeth frowning in her direction, sharing my concerns. But we didn't say anything.

"Eddie said she would take first watch tonight." She said after a few more minutes.

"Good, we can finally get some sleep." I joked.

"Are you as worried as I am?" She asked

"Yes... this quest is dangerous and doesn't make sense. It's not fair to ask a twelve year old..."

"To go on an incredibly dangerous mission to the underworld? Geee I wonder who else decided to go find a nuclear bomb when they were twelve."

She was smirking at me, "Okay, you have a point. But that's different. At least my quest..."

"Didn't warn of betrayal from a friend?"

"Hey that's not

"Or that you would fail?"

"Okay but it was completely different just..."

"Or gave a vague and twisted meaning to what the quest was about?"

I raised my hands in surrender, "Okay, Okay. It's just different when it's happening to someone else."

She laughed and leaned against me. "You aren't called seaweed brain for nothing." She gave me a quick kiss on the cheek, "Night Percy." Then she curled up in her sleeping bag. I smiled and shifted closer to her. Then I let myself relax. Unfortunately it didn't last.

* * *

My dreams were as terrible as ever.

For the first time, I had no clue where I was. My first thought was that I was stuck in the underworld, but I couldn't be sure. All I could feel was a heavy darkness settling around me. Like when Nyx has tried to kill me and Annabeth in Tartarus. The heavy darkness was the same. The worst was that all my senses seemed to be thrown out of whack. Usually I could feel if there was a cliff, or an opening. I knew when I was in a cave or in the open air. But now? I couldn't tell. The stifling darkness felt like a cave. The air itself was like being on a grassy plane. I couldn't move, for fear I would go tumbling into nothingness.

That was when the voices began. And I could hear them clearly.

"They are on the way."

"Good."

Then the mist started to clear. I couldn't quite grasp what I was seeing. Ghosts, simple bright lights floating in the air. One was plain white, another glowing blue, and the third was brighter than the rest. It glowed gold. Maybe when you died, you're favorite color was what the color your spirit took on. A fun question to ask Nico in the morning.

The voice resonated from the white cloud. "Soon they will be here. Then it begins."

"We will get our revenge." The blue spirit agreed.

The golden spirit spoke again, his voice was freezing with cruelty. I knew without a doubt that this was the spirit I had heard at the edge of Tartarus. "The boss has many plans for us. But I believe some murders are in them. Along with torment and true despair."

For a scary moment, I thought it was Kronos speaking. I had never met anyone else, not even Gaia, who was as cruel and unforgiving as the Titan Lord. Gaia just wanted the earth to be wild again. If it didn't involve wiping out the entire human population along with it, I probably would have been on her side. I could never tell Annabeth this, not since she loved architecture so much. But I always took Grover's side on this regard. No human designed place was as beautiful as the wild.

I shook my head, driving down my riding panic. It couldn't be Kronos. For one, the golden spirit was speaking of another in charge. The Titan Lord would have refused to let anyone control him. And then there was the whole "scattered into a million tiny bits and couldn't even form consciousness anymore" That was a result of my final battle with him.

The voices brought me back to my dream. "How many more days?"

The white mist laughed, "I don't know, but when they get here..."

The blue spirit chimed in, "They will already have failed."

And then the dream shifted. I was standing on a porch. There was a pool with a white crocodile swimming around in it. My homing radar told me that I was right near Manhattan. Which must mean...

Sure enough, two people stepped onto the porch. The one was an African American man, the other was a young girl. She looked white, but I knew she was mixed race. They both looked concerned. The girl, Sadie, kept running her fingers through her long blonde hair. She had blue streaks in it, that perfectly matched her bright eyes. Carter on the other hand, was pacing back and forth. They didn't look terribly dangerous, but I knew better. They were magicians from the house of life. And they were incredibly powerful.

Carter spoke first, "Sadie you can't be serious."

"I felt it rising. I don't think it's him, but it's something. Magic is being thrown out of balance."

"And how do you know you're not just being paranoid?"

Sadie punched him in the arm, "You're forgetting like normal brother dear. Isis is the goddess of magic. Trust me, when magic is disturbed, we know."

"And if you're wrong?"

I thought Sadie was going to push him in the pool with the crocodile. "You really don't believe me?"

"Have you had any visions? Has your Ba took a trip lately?" Carter pressed.

"No, because unlike your stupid self I actually use my headrest."

Now it was Carter's turn to look mad, "You're trying to tell me something is wrong with no evidence at all? Just a gut feeling?"

"Yes." She snapped back.

"Everything has been peaceful since we dealt with Setne. Why do you have to be so neurotic? It's probably nothing."

Sadie frowned, and glanced around the deck. Her eyes stopped moving when they met mine. I wasn't sure if she could see me. After all, I was just a dream self. "Percy..." she muttered softly.

"What?" Carter said, the annoyance clear in his voice.

"Demigods and magicians..." she turned and looked back towards her brother, giving no sign that she had seen me, "Carter, I think something is coming. And I think we'll need some help from Manhattan."


	8. My Mom Helps Out

So guys I completely forgot about Annabeth grabbing Sadie's staff and it turning into her knife in Staff or Serapis. Anyway, just ignore my slight divergence from canon. We're back to an Ebony chapter. This is another more relaxed chapter.

Also apparently hidden prophecy is the same title as one of the trials of Apollo. Whoops, I'll be honest I didn't read any of those books. Read an excerpt but didn't get into it so... anyway, not trying to steal the title and if you read it, it's probably nothing like the trials of Apollo. I changed the title a little bit but yeah totally wasn't trying to copy.

Anywayyyyyy here is chapter seven. For the record I have chapter ten done because it's the best chapter of this fic (except the last chapter is gonna be really good too) hopefully I can zip on through these character development/quest development/ more relaxed type of chapters so you guys can get the fun that is chapter ten. Enjoy!

 **Chapter 7: Ebony**

 **My Mom Helps Out**

In the morning, we caught a bus. Mrs. O'Leary stayed in the woods in Kansas, and we decided to leave her be. She would be there the moment Percy called for her. Anyway, back to our newest transport. After three days with three attacks in a row, we all needed some rest, and thankfully the bus was pretty empty. It was going to Denver, and we all got our own row to crash on. All my friends fell asleep within minutes. But not me.

I pulled out the bronze knife that Percy had found. Last night, when I had gone with Annabeth to grab food, she had given it to me. I tried to argue, give it back, but she said she liked her drakon knife. It was more important and had better memories to her. So I had taken it. The bronze blade was almost the exact same size as my black one and the same weight. I was honestly pretty excited to try fighting with the two blades together.

I couldn't wait to try it out. I was never one for shields. Growing up sparring with my sister, I always refused to use one. They were big and bulky. And got in the way. I couldn't roll or use the maneuvers I preferred. But fighting with two blades, one in each hand, could give me a huge advantage. Maybe I could even beat Percy now.

That was a long shot of course. I was consistently amazed by his sword fighting skill. Technically, we had ended in a drawer both times we dueled. But he was just very talented at swordplay and it was amazing to watch. The only reason I was on his level at all was because of my animal instincts that stayed with me, even if I was in human form.

"Eddie?" Percy voice cut into my thoughts. He was sitting up in his row, blinking the sleep out of his eyes. His hair stuck up on one side, "Have you slept at all?"

I shook my head.

"Get some sleep. We're halfway across the country by now and it's only going to get harder as we go."

"I'm not tired."

"Oh right. I forgot. Silly me. Wolves don't sleep."

"I'm fine, really."

"Dragons don't sleep either, right?"

"Just leave it Percy."

"Just close your eyes for five minutes."

"No." I said stubbornly, crossing my arms.

His gaze softened, "Listen Ed. I used to bear the curse of Achilles and"

"Wait, you what?"

"A different story for a different time. But anyway, I didn't think I was tired either. I felt like I could go forever. But you do need rest. You're a young powerful half-blood. Trust me. It's important. You're doing an excellent job of leading us. So let yourself recover."

I wanted to argue some more, but then we would be yelling at each other for days. Percy was the only other member of the quest who was as stubborn and thick headed as me.

"Alright." I caved. I leaned back in the seat, adjusting my pack as a sort of pillow. Sure enough, my eyes started to close right away. "Thanks Percy." I mumbled as I drifted into sleep.

* * *

Mel woke me up when we got to Denver. I guess I was pretty tired. Apparently I had slept the entire bus trip. We all filed off the bus and went to get something to eat. Denver was really beautiful. I could see snow-capped mountains stretching in the distance. The sky was bright and blue, the air crisp and cold. The people that bustled around the city were friendly and polite. And the city was bordered by trees. It was seriously gorgeous. Maybe if I made it past college, I could live out here. I wanted to go exploring, take a bus to the mountains, but I knew better. The stupid quest had to come first.

We grabbed some food from a nice cafe downtown. It was heated inside, which was nice. The temperature was dropping rapidly outside as the sun was going down. I couldn't believe we had made it almost a full day without any attacks. For a few moments, we were all relaxed. I drank my hot chocolate and watched the sun set over the mountains. Pink and orange rays streaked across the sky. Yep, I definitely wanted to move here. Screw New York.

"Why don't we just spend a day here?" Nico said, breaking the silence. I had to agree, exploring Denver seemed like a good idea.

"We're on a quest, Nico." Annabeth chided.

He shrugged, "Yeah, a quest with no timeline, which I find slightly suspicious. And I heard you and Percy talking the other night. You don't even think this quest is real. So a day wouldn't hurt us."

Mel set down her sandwich, raising her eyebrows, "What do you mean the quest 'isn't real'?"

"Nothing." Percy said too quickly, shooting a glance to Annabeth, "It was just a thought."

"Can you fake a prophecy?" I asked, jumping into the conversation.

"That is the confusing part." We all turned to Annabeth. If anyone had the answers, it was going to be her, "Rachel hosts the Oracle of Delphi. The Oracle can be cursed, or trapped a body."

"Like the old one, trapped in the hippie mummy." Percy said, nodding.

"Exactly. But a prophecy can't be faked. The Oracle speaks through here, and no amount of magic is able to manipulate that. So the prophecy, is true at least. The quest is real to some extent."

"Then what were you doubting?' Mel asked.

Annabeth nodded, like someone was finally asking the right questions, "The dreams."

Percy jumped in, "We talked about how my dreams, and Nico's dreams kind of started this whole quest. We're both supposed to be at high school right now, but disturbing dreams lead us back to camp. Within days of our return, you two," he pointed at me and Mel, "Showed up. And then when you were revealed to be the daughters of an ancient god… well Chiron felt like we needed to take action."

"But dreams can be manipulated." Annabeth said.

"How?"

"It's simple. Kronos used to manipulate minds. He would enter demigod dreams and twist them to his ways. But his presence is gone forever, or at least for the next few thousand years. But there are other gods who deal in magic and dreams alone." she looked over at me, as if expecting me to know the answer.

"But the minor gods are good now." I argued back, "Unless you think here is a traitor in the camp? Are you thinking that a child of Morpheus or Hestia created these dreams? If that's the case, then the entire prophecy is misleading."

For a moment we all sat there in stunned silence. Then Maleah stood up, "We're being ridiculous. Questioning our friends back at camp? We know that the prophecy is not fake. We know that something is trying to break out of the gates of hell. You're right that dreams can be manipulated, but they can't just be created out of imagination."

"We could be walking into a trap." I muttered dejectedly, miffed that she was once again taking charge.

"If it saves the lives of everyone at Camp Half-Blood, isn't it worth it?"

We all fell into silence again. And as much as I hated to admit it, Mel was right. We couldn't be second guessing everything, not when we were more than halfway across the country. We would see this though, then focus on traitors and the true happenings after. "Well then." I jumped up as well, "Let's go get a hotel and continue on. We can't go back now. Let's finish what we started, and work together to get it done."

* * *

Naturally, the minute we got to the hotel, I had a horrible, no-good, very bad, idea. I asked Percy to duel with me.

First off, dueling in a hotel room, even if it's large and space, doesn't usually work well. Annabeth and Mel tried to talk us out of it, but Percy was just as excited as I was. We didn't run into any monsters all day, and honestly, we were kind of bored. Plus, I was dying to try out my new fighting technique. I figured I could use two knives similar to using a sword and shield. I could block with the one, attack with the other.

Nico urged us on, but neither of us needed much convincing. Percy was itching for some action as well. With his ADHD, I wasn't surprised. So we moved everything as far out of the way as we could, leaving the center of the room open for the fight. Our friends moved out of the way, and we faced each other. It was time to see who was better (probably Percy if we're being honest.)

For a minute, we circled around each other, both trying to plan our attack. I kept my black knife in my right hand, and balanced the bronze one in my left. Nico crashed on the couch to watch us, popping trail mix in his mouth like popcorn. Annabeth and Maleah both had their lips pursed, as if they were disappointed that we wanted to duel in the middle of the night.

I made the first move. I lunged forward, striking with the flat of my blade, he blocked it with ease, but my left hand was already in motion. He had to twist quickly out of the way to avoid the bronze knife from slamming his wrist. I attacked again, feinting left, and following up with a good strike with my right hand. Once again, he blocked it.

Percy shoved me backwards, and this time he went on the attack. He went for my hilt, twisting his blade to try to get me to drop the knife. It worked. My black knife clattered on the ground, and he slashed towards me again. I blocked quickly with my left hand, before dropping into a roll away from him. I came to my feet behind him, both knives once again in my hand. He came at me again, and I decided to try a different maneuver. So far, I had been trying to fight with each hand separately. Left blade and right blade acted independently. But maybe I could use them together, as a shield and a weapon.

We both decided to go on the attack at the same time. I crossed my blades at the last second and held them up. His sword came down between the two knives, and I ducked to avoid it. Without hesitating, i threw my arms up, wrenching the sword out of his hands. But Percy wasn't done with his tricks yet. Even without a sword, he was still a formidable opponent. He pulled the same move I had earlier. Ducking under my knives and rolling for his sword. And I saw my chance. As he jumped to his feet, sword in hand, I attacked once more.

Percy anticipated a similar move, and hit my right hand this time, forcing me to drop my weapon. His eyes were full of rage and he attacked viciously. Thank the gods he didn't expect my next move. I dropped to the grounds he tried to run me through, and swiped my legs into his. He fell backwards with a loud thud and I jumped on him in an instant, pressing the bronze knife to his throat.

For a moment, we were both silent, breathing heavily. I was shocked that I had beaten him, and Percy…. He looked confused. His eyes were wide in shock, and his gaze unfocused. Something was wrong, he looked like strapped animal. His breathing got quicker, like he was hyperventilating.

"Percy?" I asked slowly, dropping the knife on the floor, "Hey, what's going on?"

Annabeth came running over, "He hasn't had one for a while." she muttered,

"Had what?"

She ignored me. "Come on Seaweed brain snap out of it."

A few heartbeats later, Percy took a shaky breath. But it wasn't the wild panicked breathing from before. It was more relaxed now. He turned to me and smiled, giving me two thumbs up. "Hell of a move there Nightshade." he joked. I knew he was trying to make the situation light again, but I was the one freaking out now.

Annabeth pulled him to his feet, still frowning. She turned to me, and then looked back at him. "Okay, no more duels." she snapped, continuing to look back and forth between us.

"Yes ma'am." Percy stood up tall and saluted her.

She continued to glare at me until I shrugged, "Okay, I won't duel with him anymore."

"You bunch of stupid, idiotic, hard-headed, stubborn, proud…." she continued to ramble on as she stomped out of the room.

Maleah crossed her arms and glared at me, I could tell she was about to go into some tangent about responsibility or something. And frankly, I didn't want to deal with it.

"Save the lecture." I hissed.

She stood up in a rage, "Fine." she snapped, "Annabeth is right, you two are so stupid competitive that it's going to get you killed one day." she followed Annabeth and whipped out of the room as well.

For moment, I was too angry to speak. How dare they both get pissed at us? We were just having a friendly duel. How was I supposed to know Percy would have freakout during it?

"If it's any consolation, that was a damn good fight." Nico said. I had almost forgotten about him. He was leaning back on the couch now, with his leg propped up. He was still eating his trail mix. I could imagine that our duel and the ensuing drama was like a TV show to him. I met his eyes, and then Percy's, then the three of us doubled over laughing.

When we finally all stopped laughing, Percy reached out and clapped me on the shoulder, "You know, this means if Kronos does come back, you have to fight him now."

I started laughing again. Mel and Annabeth eventually came back, they had been hanging out in the lobby. Even though they chatted and joked with us for bit, before heading to bed, I knew they were still mad at us. But it didn't matter to me. Because that night, the three of us went to bed, still with smiles on our faces. It was nice to finally go to sleep happy.

* * *

There's nothing like waking up to a blazing fire pit in the middle of a hotel room.

Nico was still snoring quietly on the bed, and Annabeth was in the shower. Mel jumped up instantly, her hand creeping towards her sword.

"What the…" I muttered, walking towards the fire.

Percy slid out of bed as well, walking cautiously towards the flames. He didn't look confused though…. more annoyed than anything.

Annabeth came out of the bathroom, her hair still tied up in a towel. "What's going on guys?"

Nico was sitting up now too, invested in the weird new decoration.

All of a sudden, there was a tower of light, and a teen jumped out of it. He landed lightly on the floor. My first instinct was that he was some kind of monster. I reached towards my knife, but Percy grabbed my hand, shaking his head. The guy straightened up, brushing ash on to the carpet. And Percy just sighed, and ruffled his hair, "Hey Apollo." he said casually, like he was talking to an old friend and not a god. "Any why are you here?"

I didn't question it. So apollo was a teenager with surprisingly good looks. I could get behind that. Apollo gave Percy a wicked smile. Then he turned towards me, his eyes sparkling with curiosity. The god had sandy blonde hair, and beautiful blue eyes (I may only be twelve but I can appreciate good aesthetic appeal, don't judge me). He was tall, almost as tall as Percy, and looked like someone who spent a lot of time hiking in national parks. He looked like, at any moment, he was going to pull a prank on us. His smile reminded me of Connor's.

The sun god was wearing jeans, and a T-shirt that read "suns out, puns out". I had to bite my lip hard to keep from commenting on that. I didn't feel like getting turned to ash on such a fine morning.

"I'm here to help of course!" he said.

Percy turned around dramatically, spreading his arms wide, "Really? Where's your chariot at?"

"Good to see you too." the god winked at Percy. I made a mental note to ask Percy later about his relationship with the sun god.

He turned to me, "Anyway, quest leader, am I right?"

"Ummmmm, yeah. That's me." I said slowly.

"Cool!" He stepped forward and held out his hand like he wanted a fist bump. I just gave him a strange look.

"We'll get there. Night's kid right?" I nodded, "Total opposite of me. I can handle it. My sister likes you a lot, you know. Being the moon goddess and all, I'm guessing she likes the darkness almost as much as you do!"

Percy rolled his eyes dramatically, "Okay but really. Why are you here."

"Hey, don't rush me. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah," He unfortunately turned his attention back towards me, "I'm here for you. Little midget twelve year old quest leader, who also happens to be the daughter of a very evil goddess. Kind of scary to think of things that way. I wonder what you'll be capable of in the future?"

"Midget?" I said, offended, "Excuse me?"

"Don't worry kid, you'll grow."

"Kid?"

"I don't make the rules. You're under 13? So you're a kid. Not the worst thing to be."

"Fine. Or whatever. I'm not really experienced with talking to gods, but I thought you guys weren't supposed to interfere with quests?"

"Oh, we're not supposed to." He nodded in agreement, "But some of us, most of us, do anyway. I'm here to help transport you out west!" Apollo said brightly. His white teeth were blinding.

"I'm not riding in your sun chariot." Percy said, at the same time that Nico asked, "Can I drive the chariot this time?"

"No, no." he waved his hand in the air, like that was the most ridiculous idea he had ever heard. Considering that he was the sun god, I was beginning to think that Apollo wasn't all that bright. "The transport is right outside. I'll leave you to it. I think you can figure it out. Or at least Annabeth can."

We all came to a silent agreement and started packing our stuff up. Apollo sat down on his fire pit, playing with he flames. "Okay." I said, standing up with my pack, "Where's the transport?"

"Follow me." he swept out the room, and we all followed. Annabeth an dMel started muttering together, probably still complaining about me and Percy no doubt. And Percy just looked annoyed. I had learned a little bit about Percy's past, enough to know that him and Apollo usually got along. But now, Percy seemed to want nothing to do with him. It was definitely strange.

When we got outside, there was literally nothing there. A wide open field at the base of the mountains. The sun was just starting to come up over the horizon.

"What are we supposed to be looking at?" I finally ventured to ask.

"Hmmmmm, they must be late."

"Who?"

"Well, I best be going now." He winked at Percy again, "First your dad, and now me. When Zeus finds out we're going to be in so much trouble."

"What's this about your dad?" Annabeth snapped suddenly, turning to her boyfriend. Of course she was worried about that, I just wanted to know where the fricken transport was.

"I will definitely be going now." Apollo said again, ignoring both of them, "But, of course, I will leave you with a Haiku."

He cleared his throat and Nico instantly cut in, "Thank you Lord Apollo for your help, I think it's best if maybe you just left, and we can all make our own Haikus?" He gave him a tight smile.

Apollo beamed widely, "Nice offer, but I have a good one." He raised his hand dramatically. Percy and Nico both groaned, "Five friends questing together. Apollo is so awesome. Darkness sends two gifts."

And on that weird note he vanished on the spot.

"Well." Annabeth was the first to speak, "That was weird. Did he just try to help us, because I swear I didn't get much out of that conversation."

"Do we ever get much out of a conversation with Apollo?" Percy said, rolling his eyes.

"Does he always compliment himself in a Haiku?" I said, asking the real question.

"Ummmm, guys." Nico interrupted. He was staring out at the field.

It looked like a dust storm moving towards us, but it was pitch black. A large swirling tornado of smoke. As it got closer, I realized it wasn't one large twister, but two columns spinning towards us. They came to a stop about fifty feet away. Then they began to take shape and formed into two large beasts. As the darkness settled, I realized what I was looking at.

It was the same two horses that I had seen from the train, and later outside of our hotel. They were literally formed from darkness. Mist seemed to swirl around them. Up close, they were the two most incredible creatures I had ever seen. Their fur wasn't just black, it gleamed in the daylight. The sunlight flickering around their coats made it look like a thousand tiny stars were woven into it. They didn't have a speck of any other color. They pawed the ground, snorting and tossing their heads.

Percy swallowed, "They don't want to eat us so that's a plus."

Annabeth laughed nervously, "I remember these two. They're her horses."

"Nyx?" Mel asked

"Shade and Shadow." Percy said, nodding his head. He was still frozen in place. "They wanted to kill us when we were in Tartarus."

I walked forward, almost in a trance. The two horses were slightly different. One was a bit larger, and seemed more solid. The other one seemed to flicker to smoke. The one closest to me moved forward, spreading out large black wings. The wings weren't like a Pegasus wings. They were skeletal, and looked like large bat weren't smooth and sleek like my dragon wings, but jagged. She (I don't know why, but I felt like it had to be a she) flapped her wings, and a wave of darkness rolled towards us. I heard one of my friends take a shaky breath, but for some reason, the darkness didn't affect me. I reached my hand forward and gently rubbed her face. The horse nickered and leaned into my hand. I ran my hand along her neck. I always loved horses. I scratched her neck and she lifted her head, clearly enjoying the attention.

Percy walked up behind me, "She likes that."

"You can understand her?" I asked back

"Yeah, Poseidon thing. This is Shade." He pointed to the other horse, who was still standing a few meters away, "And that is Shadow. They came here for you and Maleah."

Shade nickered, nudging my hand. I smiled and started petting her face again, "Why would they come for us?"

"Shade says that she chooses you. And Shadow chooses Mel. They are the horses of Nyx, they pull her chariot in Tartarus." Percy paused, listening, "Their mistress sent them to be where they belong, at the sides of her two daughters."

For a minute, I was confused. I had heard all the terrible stories about Nyx. And I had never had any contact with her, or talked to her. I didn't even know what she looked like. But here we were, with my mother sending help? There was something deeper at work, but I didn't question it. I always wanted a horse. I mean, yeah, my dream horse didn't have silver fangs, skeletal wings, and wasn't made out of dark smoke. But if she had chosen me, that must be a good thing.

Mel walked past me and over to Shadow. She didn't really like horses that much, but she was fascinated by the equine in front of her. Then Shadow knelt down on the ground, letting Maleah climb on her back. I took a running leap and vaulted on Shade's back as well.

"So." Mel said, "I vote we travel on horseback from here. Percy, you can call on a couple of pegasi. Then we can go towards Vegas. I heard that magical beasts like these horses travel faster than…."

"Are you done?" I spat at her.

She looked at me, offended, "What are you talking about?"

"How many times do I have to remind you, I'm the one leading this quest. Not you. Me. Ebony. Not. You" I growled out those last two words.

Mel glared back at me, ready for a stinging retort. Percy interrupted her with two loud taxi cab whistles. "Sorry guys, just calling my pegasi." He said casually, but I knew he had done it too stop us from fighting.

I pointedly turned my back on Maleah, not caring how childish it was. For a moment, we all stood there in an awkward silence and waited. Then a black and a white shape appeared in the sky. The two horses circled down and landed. The black one snorted and shook his mane. Then he trotted forward and gently head butted Percy. Or "gently" for horse I guess, because Percy was almost knocked flat on the ground.

After a bit of shuffling around, and Percy communicating with all the horses where we needed to go, all five of us were saddled up.

Annabeth smiled down at us from Guido's back, "You guys ready?"

Percy was already circling above with Blackjack. I knew the two had a long history, and Percy looked thrilled to be hanging out with his pal. Nico was resting on the back of a skeletal horse he had summoned. A pretty handy skill if you ask me. Mel hopped on the other black horse, the one Percy called Shadow. I nodded, and Annabeth raised her eyebrows at me. "All right." I said curtly, taking the hint, "Let's go!"

I guess magical horses cover ground much quicker than cars do. Nico, Mel, and I galloped over the landscape, with Percy and Annabeth flying overhead. And it was amazing. The mountains blurred past as we made our way through Colorado and entered Utah. The fall weather made the gallop that much better. Out of all the travel methods on this quest, this was by far my favorite. Shade and Shadow spread their wings on occasion, leaping into the air to soar with the pegasi. But they always returned to the ground. I'm guessing that they enjoyed the gallop as much as I did.

We entered Utah after just an hour, and kept going. It wasn't even noon yet and we were covering a ton of ground. I wanted to get to Vegas by nightfall. Even though I was comfortable (and honestly preferred) traveling at night, I knew my companions didn't share my thoughts on that. After a quick stop in St George to grab some food, we all hopped back on and continued traveling. Percy and Annabeth seemed to enjoy their time together. Their two pegasi flew close together. Nico was pretty relaxed on his skeletal mount, he seemed to be texting someone as he rode. I guess when you're the son of Hades, you're not a very appealing target for a monster.

Mel tried to talk to me some, but I kept enough distance between us so that wouldn't happen. I was still a bit angry at her. She was my sister, and she was supposed to have my back. But instead, she kept trying to step up and lead herself. I mean, yeah, she had been raising me for quite some time. But I had been chosen to lead the quest. And I was really annoyed that she didn't see me as a leader. I was always going to just be her little sister.

So instead of talking, I focused on relaxing, and organizing my thoughts. And before I knew it, we had arrived outside of Las Vegas, just as the sun was going down. Shade and Shadow vanished into the darkness as soon as the moon came out. Percy and Annabeth soared down and landed next to us. The two pegasi flew off, headed back towards camp. Nico's mount collapsed into dust on the ground.

We all stood together, looking at the bright lights of the city. It was Percy who finally spoke, "Well you know what they say about this city. What happens in Vegas."

"Stays in vegas." I agreed. And together the five of us walked towards sin city.


	9. Quality Time in Sin City

_**About time this one got finished. Took me a long time to get inspiration for it. And as a special treat…. I have THREE chapters for you tonight. I was traveling early this week, so I didn't have a chance yet to upload this one. But yeah, I have three done so I may as well put all three up at once. Enjoy!**_

 _ **Also PSA, if you pick up on it, yes I am mentioning human trafficking. It's a small segment of this chapter, like 1/4 of the chapter deals with that issue a little bit, complete with a creepy individual. There is no explicit mention of it, but it's pretty obviously there. Just a warning.**_

* * *

 **Chapter 8: Percy**

 **Quality Time in Sin City**

As we soared through the mountains of Colorado and Utah, Annabeth took the opportunity to question (or more accurately, yell at) me about what Poseidon and I had discussed. So I told her everything, about the bill coming due, and how soon two powers would have to work together.

Her annoyance with me faded as I told her about my meeting with my dad. I was grateful for that. Angry girls are not typically what I enjoy dealing with. She frowned in concentration. I knew her brain was on overdrive, trying to figure out what was coming next. "Have you had any more dreams?" she finally asked.

"Have you?" I asked back, avoiding the question.

"One. You remember our magician friends, Sadie and Carter?" she asked.

"Whoa." I said suddenly alert, "You had a dream about them?"

"Yeah, they were arguing about someone named Ky, at least I think that was the name. Sadie thought that they were planning an attack on the house of life."

"I had a dream about them too. But they were just talking about some magical disturbance going on. Sadie is pretty sure that something bad is coming."

"Great." Annabeth muttered, "That's just what we need. More problems. Maybe you can call on Carter?"

I shook my head, "Not yet, I think we need to just get through this quest. Then we can reach out to them."

"But what if that's what your dad meant by 'powers combined?'" She argued back.

"Annabeth, I really want to call on them, I do. They are a ton of fun to be around. But we," I paused, nothing the bright lights of a city below us, "We're here." I stated, changing direction.

She didn't press the matter. Instead we just circled our pegasi down, and landed softly next to the other quest members. Nico tapped his mount and it collapsed into dust, like his horses normally did. Then he pulled out his phone and continued to furiously text. My guess was that he was talking to Will. Blackjack nuzzled me, before he and Guido flew off together, heading back towards camp. I noticed that Mel and Eddie were staying far away from each other, and that they didn't have a chance to hash things out on their long gallop.

I have to admit, Shade and Shadow still terrified me. Their eyes were blank and cold. And the large silver fangs that flashed my way always reminded me that I was a easy snack for them. Then, whenever they flapped their wings, a wave of pure darkness washed over me. And fear and darkness are closely linked. But I guess if Eddie loved them, then they couldn't be all bad. If there was one thing that I was understanding from this quest, it was how protective I felt of the young demigod. She was like the little sister I never had. Stubborn and hot-headed yes, but she was also smart, resourceful, and fun-loving. And if you looked past the brutal exterior, you could see how loyal she was, and how much she cared for her family and friends.

Thankfully, the two horses turned to darkness when the sun fell, vanishing from sight. But as soon as they left, I kind of wanted them back. I had a bad feeling about this city, and having some murderous demon horses at our side would probably be helpful.

The five of us started down the road like a bunch of weird hitchhikers. It got louder as we approached it. As soon as we arrived, I was almost blinded by the amount of lights flashing all over the place. I instantly added Vegas to the list of cities that I would never want to visit again. Sure, it was full of bright lights and bustling activity. But I wasn't old enough to gamble anyways. And with all the crap that I was currently dealing with, I really didn't have a desire to gamble. Everything was also so chaotic, and after our nice relaxing flight here, it was an unwelcome wake up call.

I'm sure we must have looked weird all walking in to the city. Nico had on black jeans and his aviators jacket. Mel and Annabeth were both dressed more practically, regular jeans, and trendy tops. Eddie, on the other hand, had a pair of black leggings with a simple black T-shirt. And then there was me. I was wearing my bright orange camp half-blood shirt. We probably looked like a group of goths, preps, and their nerd friend (me).

After we got dinner, and spent an hour getting completely lost, Annabeth caved and pulled out her phone. Now let me explain the phone thing. I know that they can be beacons for monsters and such. But after Annabeth and I had returned form Tartarus, most monsters with half a brain steered clear of us. Shortly after the giant war, a telephone had attacked me after swim practice. When I turned around, he took one look at my face and fled for his life. It seemed to happen a lot too. Annabeth had similar instances.

But we weren't completely reckless. Annabeth and I always had our phones on airplane mode. They were used for emergency contact. And when we were lost. Nothing else (except the occasional games of candy crush or 2048).

Anyway, getting lost in a gamblers paradise was not my idea of a good time. So when Annabeth found us directions, I was pretty relieved. Nico asked if we could gamble every five minutes, and Mel kept snapping no in response. But for the most part, we walked in silence. The goal was to get to the edge of the city, then find a bus or taxi that could take us to LA.

At one point, Mel asked if we should stop for the night. But Eddie refused. I had to agree with her, I was so tired of dreams. I understood fighting monsters. And traveling across the country. But I was sick and tired of trying to figure out my dreams. Annabeth loved that sort of stuff. Piecing together the puzzle pieces to find out the big picture. But I hated it.

We continued to follow the directions through the city. It was fairly large, and Annabeth and I were making sure to avoid the Lotus Hotel. We hadn't come across it yet, but it still worried me. Nico especially seemed upset about being back in Vegas. In contrast, Mel and Ebony looked more relaxed than ever before. I guess it was because we were traveling at night. I was kind of jealous of their ability to see so well in the dark. It would be a useful skill to have on long journeys like this.

Annabeth suddenly grabbed my arm, her eyes wide. Nico came to an abrupt halt as well. He stopped so quickly that Maleah ran straight into his back. "What the?" she started to say.

But I noticed what they were looking at. I could feel it drawing me in. I was tempted to stop in, just for a few minutes. Good food, a place to sleep, showers…. and all the games! After a week of traveling on the road, it would be fun to lay down and unwind. Without knowing it, I was starting to walk towards the hotel. Annabeth walked next to me, her eyes glued on it. Maleah was holding Nico's arm now, talking to him. But I continued forward. What was the harm? Just a couple of hours, nothing bad would happen. We weren't even on a schedule this time.

The Stryke sisters saved us. As Annabeth and I walked in a frenzy to a hotel, a large black dragon suddenly landed in front of us. I drew my sword, ready to fight past it. There was something familiar about it's green eyes though…. I looked at Annabeth. She was frowning, deep in thought. Then the dragon lashed it's tail and let out a tremendous roar. The spell was broken in an instant.

I shook my head, like I was emerging from water. The dragon stood its ground, still snarling at us. "Eddie, we're fine." I managed to get out. I was freaking out though.

"Let's get the hell out of here." Annabeth echoed my thoughts.

"You idiots." Eddie hissed, shrinking back to normal size. "You stupid idiots. She stormed over to us, her eyes lit with a green fire, "Is it really that easy to throw you under a spell? It's a damn building!"

Annabeth looked down at the ground, ashamed. Mel stormed over too, Nico shuffling behind her. She looked just as mad, "You guys are supposed to have experience on quests. So why in the hell did you just try to run into the Lotus like that? I thought you would be strong enough to resist it?"

"Apparently not." Ebony snapped back, I had never seen her look so mad, "The lure of a good time is way more important than…." she suddenly stopped, her eyes narrowing.

Her warning came too late. She didn't even have a chance to react as a group of people ran at us from the alleyway. None of us had a chance to defend ourselves. Before I could even think to draw my sword, one of the men had grabbed Eddie in a chokehold, a knife in his other hand.

He laughed, his goons joining in, "What do we have here?" he smirked down at Eddie. She was struggling, but he was easily twice her size. He was just as tall as me, probably close to 6 feet. But he had a lot more muscle, and evil gleam in his eyes. As she continued to try breaking free, he casually pressed the knife against her face. She stopped instantly, glaring up at him.

"That's a good girl." He crooned, making my stomach churn. I could feel red hot rage rising in me.

"Let her go." I spat out.

He smiled over at me, "Not a chance." He dragged the knife along her face, tracing down her cheek and jawline. "This pretty little one is going to fetch a nice price for me. Young and pretty."

"Go to hell." She snarled at him.

Instantly, the smile vanished from his face. He tightened his arm around her throat. She gasped, clawing at his arm, desperately trying to get free. I saw the man whisper something in her ear that made her struggle even more. The next thing I knew, I was seeing red. I lunged forward, barely aware of the hands grabbing at my arms and the people yelling at me. That son of a bitch. He was going to pay…..

"PERCY!" Annabeth's voice finally brought me back. "Don't." She whispered to me, "He's going to kill her if we do anything."

"Listen to your boss." the man sneered at us, "Or sweet cheeks over here loses an eye."

I clenched my jaw, my face hot and flushed from anger. "If you hurt her…." I breathed out, "I will hunt you down. And I will kill you."

"Oh yeah?" He leaned down and kissed her on the cheek. At this point, I was ready to throw the man into Tartarus and watch him suffer for eternity. He deserved the worst punishment that they had to offer in the underworld. And I wanted to drag him down there myself. He kept talking, his lips brushing her cheek with every word, "Your friend over there thinks he can help you. How sentimental. Maybe I'll even come back for those other pretty friends of yours now that I know how important you are to each other." Her gaze hardened, her expression changing from fear to anger. He laughed, his arm relaxing just the slightest bit. I tensed, getting ready to attack. "I can't wait to teach you how it's done." He finished, once more sliding the knife along her face.

"You know, just for future reference." Eddie gasped out, still out of breath from the chokehold, "Kissing me. Bad idea." She hissed. She moved like a whirlwind, grabbing his hand and twisting it backwards. I heard a snap that may have been his hand breaking. His knife clattered to the ground. He screamed and let go of Ed, and she slammed her elbow into his stomach. He stumbled away from her, but Eddie wasn't done. She was furious.

Mel ran over to help her. I was too stunned to even move. The two girls twirled around the group, incapacitating them one by one. Then Eddie grabbed the first man by his collar, and shoved him backwards, slamming him against a building. She pulled out her knife and held it against his throat. If the situation wasn't so serious, it would have been a funny sight. A twelve year old girl threatening a grown man. The two of them glared at each other, breathing hard. The man looked absolutely horrified. And Eddie…. her eyes. They were black again. Except this time they looked truly evil.

Mel's voice finally broke the silence, "Kill him."

I was shocked. I felt like I was in the presence of Kronos, moving in slow motion. Between getting jumped, and the sudden turn of events, my head was having trouble catching up to what my eyes were seeing. Annabeth gasped behind me; Nico stayed silent. I looked over at Mel and my heart skipped a beat. Her eyes were twin coals, burning black with hatred.

It took every ounce of self control that I possessed to approach the two of them. All of my instincts were screaming at me to back away. "Come on Percy" I told myself, "You don't judge someone by their background." But it was hard. Both of the Strykes stood there, eyes as black as night, and twisted expressions on their face. I had to act now. "Wait!" I said, stepping into they line of sight. Mel ignored me, still urging on her sister. But i could reach Eddie, I knew it, "Eddie, wait." I repeated, putting authority in my voice.

Her eyes flashed over to me. Still black. "Eddie," I repeated softly, walking towards her, "It's okay.

"He deserves it." She muttered back, almost in a daze.

"Exactly." Maleah said, persistent, "One less scumbag in this world."

I inched closer, ignoring her sister, "Eddie. This isn't you. This whole time, you've been leading us with confidence. Strength. Intelligence. I'm not going to lose you now." I saw her fingers start to relax on the blade, so I kept going, "We all have our own demons. There is evil inside all of us. But the people who are strong enough to resist it, those are the true heroes. And i know you. You're a true hero."

Her eyes flickered back and forth, form me to the man she still had trapped against the wall. The rest of his gang had fled, leaving him alone and defenseless. "Eddie. Drop the knife."

For a minute, everyone held their breath. Then she blinked sharply, her eyes changing back tot heir normal green. I let out the breath I was holding. The tension dissolved in the air. Her arm dropped to her side. "Go." she growled out softly. The man gave her one more terrified look before sprinting away into the alley. I stepped forward and stood next to her. She looked at me, fear in her eyes.

"Don't worry about it." I said instantly, "We're going to figure this out."

I didn't get a chance to say more. At that moment, Annabeth and Nico came running over. "What was that all about?" Annabeth looked at Eddie for a while, before glaring at Mel. Maleah didn't defend herself, she just glared right back. Ebony had the audacity to look away, as if she was feeling guilty, "Seriously," Annabeth tried again, "What is going….." Whatever she was about to say got cut off abruptly. A loud, unearthly screech rang through the air.

"You have got to be fuckin kidding me." Nico yelled out.

"Another bird?" Eddie groaned.

Even I knew what this creature was. It was the middle of the night, but the fire bird was so bright that it looked like it was high noon. I didn't know that a phoenix could be this big. The bird was the same size as the large eagle that had attacked us in Kansas. It's entire body was on fire, except for the glowing red legs. He blinked bright blue eyes over at us. Then it soared down, landing in front of us. A wave of heat washed over us. Eddie blinked sharply, rubbing her eyes.

I turned to Annabeth, "Aren't they noble creatures? Sacred birds of the old sun god right?"

She nodded.

"Good," I muttered slowly, "So that means it isn't here to kill us right?"

"I wouldn't be so sure." Eddie grumbled from beside me, "So far we haven't had much luck when it comes to monsters."

"Well technically, a phoenix isn't a monster. It's a sacred bird of fire. Symbol of rebirth. A legendary creature. I heard that they were good luck." Mel chimed in.

"Are they supposed to be the size of a damn dragon?" Nico said uncertainly. I agreed with him. For some reason (I don't know, call it logic), I had always imagined firebirds being the same size as a bald eagle.

The bird flapped his wings, and let out another loud cry. The five of us huddled together, waiting to see what would happen. The bird cocked his head in our direction, like a curious child. But then it flapped his wings, sending a wave of fire rolling towards us. "Good luck my ass! Scatter!" Eddie yelled.

We all dove out of the way as the wave rushed towards us. I rolled to my feet, and found that I was standing next to Nico. The phoenix was screaming, and flying around wildly. Overtime he came within five feet of the ground, balls of fire leapt off his feathers. I also noticed that he could breath fire like a dragon. As the bird came soaring towards us again, Nico and I dived behind a nearby car. He glanced over at me. "I am not killing a sacred legendary bird." Nico said.

I nodded in agreement. "But why is he even attacking us? Sacred birds shouldn't be trying to kill demigods."

He shrugged, ducking down to avoid another blast of fire rolling towards us. "I'm not Annabeth. Maybe it has something to do with what the whole quest is fake stuff."

I dared to poke my head around the car. And what I saw made my heart skip a beat. Eddie was dragging an unconscious Annabeth to safety. Thanks he gods she didn't look injured outside of a blow to her head. There wasn't any visible blood. I couldn't see Mel from here. At that moment though, the bird tuned and breathed a jet towards me, forcing me to jump behind the car once more.

"Got any plans?" Nico asked me.

"Um, working on it."

"What's going on out there?" he asked me

"Annabeth is knocked out. I don't know what happened but she seems okay. Ebony was taking care of her. I didn't see her sister though." I stated.

"Look out!" I heard Eddie screech out all of a sudden.

There was a sudden explosion . I felt the shock waves of it from where I was standing.

I was forced to dive back behind the car as another rush of fire came towards us. I heard Mel yelling Eddie's name, but I couldn't take change to look.

"Got a plan now?" Nico asked me again.

I gave him a sly look, "Can you distract it, long enough for me to get over there?" I nodded to my left.

He sighed, "Hurry up and don't fuck it up." I really had to talk to him about his language.

"Ready?"

"Unfortunately."

"Now." I yelled. Together we jumped out from behind the cars. I couldn't see where Ebony and Annabeth were, but Maleah was standing her ground against the Phoenix. Nico let out a loud yell and charged the bird, trying to draw it's attention. It worked, and he was forced to dive behind another car as another rush of fire came flying towards him.

I started running in the opposite direction, straight past Mel, who yelled "Where are you going? The fight is here!" As I darted past. I ignored her and vaulted over the curb. I had my eyes on a pond with a small fountain. Without hesitating, I launched myself into the water.

"Come on you stupid bird" I grumbled, as I splashed backwards through the pond, the water getting deeper with every step. I held the fountain back with my mind. "Attack me."

It continued to ignore me, so I took a desperate measure. I pulled out Riptide, sent out a silent prayer that it wouldn't melt in the flames, and flung it at the bird. That worked. Even though Riptide missed, a bronze projectile flying over his head was enough. Now his full, undivided attention was on me. I couldn't decide if that was good or bad. I continued to hold back the fountain, like I had done on the beach so many years ago against Ares. The pressure built with every passing second. The bird let out another high piercing cry, and then flew towards me. The fiery wings nearly blinded me they were so bright. I held the fountain back. He was 20 yards away. Then ten…. five. Now! I released the water.

A huge explosion burst out of the fountain, slamming into the firebird. The poor creature didn't have any defense. It screeched as the water doused the fire on his wings and body. For a second, I was looking at a bald and hairless creature. It looked like bird completely plucked of it's feathers. Then it let out one more shriek and exploded into a ball of fire. Ash flew everywhere. Part of my brain knew that in the ashes would be a newborn Phoenix. I wanted badly to go look for it, having a giant pet bird made out of fire would be useful. But I didn't have time for that. The rest of the quest members needed me.

I splashed over to my friends. Annabeth was starting to sit up with the help of Nico. She had a good sized bump on her head, but she wasn't bleeding and seemed fine outside of it. I saw Nico grab out his canteen of nectar, and she gratefully drank some of it. Mel was standing in front of me, dripping water from my trick with the fountains. A few feet away, Ebony was leaning against a car, catching her breath.

"Are you two okay?" I asked, looking at Maleah and Eddie.

Mel nodded. Eddie didn't say anything. She was staring blankly into the distance. Her eyes weren't focused on anything at all. A sudden cold washed over me. I noticed that she was paler than she should be. And since when did she ever get out of breath?

"Eddie?" I asked again.

She blinked in shock, "What?" Her head turned towards me. Her eyes still had a faraway look in them, "Yeah. Yeah I'm fine."

I frowned and started to walk towards her. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, yeah." she said. "We should probably get going I think." she pushed herself away from the car, and instantly froze. The dazed look returned to her eyes.

"Eddie, stop." I said sharply. I walked forward quickly. I grabbed her shoulder with my hand, steadying her. And then I saw the wound. A large piece of glass was sticking out of her side, wedged between two of her ribs. I felt horrible. How did I not notice that?

She looked down at the glass, as if noticing it for the first time. "When did that happen?" she said softly, confused.

I sighed and helped her to the side of the road. The glass must have been deeply embedded. Ed had a very high pain tolerance, and so far I had yet to see her really distressed over an injury. She sat down, and the four of crowded around her. "We have to get the glass out." Annabeth finally commented.

"Isn't that the last thing you want to do?" Nico responded.

"We need to keep moving." That was Mel, "We're sitting ducks out here in the open."

"We can't just yank a giant..."

"So what are we going to do? Go to a hospital? Yeah, let's go tell them, 'Here's our friend, she's half-god so if you could just yank this glass out and feed her some ambrosia, everything will be fine.' Brilliant idea." she snapped back.

"Guys." Eddie tried to interrupt, but I talked over her.

"What if the glass is too deep, and ambrosia won't heal her in time? Did you ever think about that?" I snapped back.

"Guys." Eddie tried again.

Mel crossed her arms, "Oh right, I forgot. You're so experienced. You know exactly what to do." she said sarcastically.

"I never said that, I'm just…."

"You just don't even care do you? Probably sick and tired of caring for her all the time is that it?

"How dare you! She is my sister, i would do anything for her."

"Really?" I snapped back, "Because from my point of view..."

"Will you two just shut the hell up?"Eddie finally snapped out.

I turned around. She was still pale and shaky. But I noticed that there was a lot more blood around the ground now. A shard of glass lay in the street. Annabeth was next to her, holding one of our packs against her wound. Nico was on the other side, helping her sit up and giving her a small bit of ambrosia at a time. "Did you just?" Maleah asked.

"While you two were arguing, we took action." Nico responded, tense and annoyed. He got to his feet. "We're ready to keep going."

She gave me a weary thumbs up. The poor girl had had a rough day. She needed to rest. "You guys stay here." I said, "I'll go get us a car." Ebony must have been pretty worn out because she didn't even argue. She just nodded, before leaning on Annabeth's shoulder and closing her eyes. Annabeth smiled at me, wrapping her arm around Eddie like a big sister would.

Remember when I made a strong case against stealing a car a few days ago? Well, I stole a car. I mean, I wasn't planning on keeping it or anything. But I needed transportation. The desire to finish the quest was stronger now than it ever was before. I wanted to get Eddie safely back to camp. I wanted my nightmares to stop. I wanted a fricken break. So I walked down the street until I found a four door Honda that would do nicely. Paul had taught me how to hotwire a car (long story) so I got it going after just a few minutes. I drove to pick my friends up and we all left Sin City. Good riddance, I planned to never return to the place.


	10. Down Under We Go

_**So excited because we're almost to the fun chapter! It's a shorter chapter than most of the others. Not much to say about it, just enjoy having a second chapter in one day :)**_

* * *

 **Chapter 9: Ebony**

 **Down Under We Go**

After almost dying for the tenth time that week, I was definitely ready for this stupid quest to be over. From the eagle to the Phoenix to a stupid sea monster... I mean come on. If a ton of monsters wanted to attack us, could we at least get some normal ones? Maybe like a hydra or the Minotaur or something that I KNEW about. I was also getting sick of killing monsters that were clearly summoned to attack us. Okay maybe the sea serpent wasn't summoned but... the rest? Phoenix's were not evil. The Caucasian eagle literally existed to eat a titans liver. There was no logical explanation to why it attacked us.

The drive from Vegas to LA was long and boring. The scenery wasn't bad though. It was actually quite beautiful. Mountains rise in the background. The desert stretched out on all sides. It was still dark out, but I could make our the scrubby plants that littered the landscape. The mountains weren't snow capped like in Denver. Instead they were dry and arid, matching the landscape.

I slept on and off as Percy continued to drive. It was a short trip, only about four hours. But I was exhausted. After the Phoenix attack last night and the hurried drive out of the city, I really needed the rest. Like normal, no dreams haunted my sleep. But it was still restless and short.

We were probably an hour out when I started to get nervous. My biggest fear was failing all my friends. I had received a terrible dark prophecy with no direction. Now we were almost to our destination. And my instincts screamed at me to turn back. I had a bad gut feeling that we should not be anywhere near LA.

I tried to bring it up with Mel as we drove towards the city, but she didn't seem to be interested.

"Honestly, What is the plan though? I agree that everything is a bit odd about this quest. But you can't seriously believe that someone is going through all of this effort to send us on this quest based on a false idea? If it was a big bad like one of the titans or the giants, they wouldn't fake a quest. They would just fill on start attackIng." She whispered, trying not to wake up Nico.

I sighed in exasperation, she wasn't seeing the full picture. "Maybe, whoever is behind all of this, isn't able to open the gates without help? What if they need us to open the gates for them?"

Mel pursed her lips, "I just don't know. I mean there's something that we're missing. But the best we can do is continue on and hopefully we figure things out in the end."

"Usually there are signs. Like when Zeus and Poseidon were fighting, remember Percy told us that the weather had been weird for weeks before his quest." I argued back, not ready to drop it.

"Can we just finish the quest please? We talked about this, we entertained the idea, and we all agreed to keep going."

"Don't you have second thoughts at all?" I pressed

"Will you just drop it?" She snapped back.

I fell silent, furious that she wasn't listening to me, like always. Annabeth twisted around in the front seat, giving me a confused look. I just crossed my arms and stared straight ahead.

"Okay fine. I'm just trying to help."

"Help?" I snapped out.

"Yes. You're the one who keeps reminding us over and over again that you're the leader of the quest. So do you really think it is a good idea for our leader to be second guessing the entire quest?"

"We are going to the underworld. To Tartarus." I retorted, "If there's a time for second guessing it's right now. I have no desire to lead you to your death."

Her expression softened, "To our death? You can become a fricken dragon. This is Nico's home court. Annabeth is the smartest person I've ever met, next to you. And Percy?" She smiled at me, "Percy has been the subject of two great prophecies. I doubt any of us are in danger when he's around."

Percy must have been listening in because I heard him say "Damn straight." When Mel finished.

We all broke down laughing, easing the tension a bit. But the laughter faded away quickly. We continued in silence. The scenery change as we got closer to the city. Traffic got heavier and the desert started to fade away. There were more building along the road. Palm trees started to line the edge of the road. I looked out the window, eager to see our destination. We passed under a few more bridges and there it was.

Las Angeles rose out of the desert, surrounded by palm trees. The buildings stretched towards the sky, lighting up the early morning. The sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. We drove under more bridges, and the city looked even larger.

"Welcome to LA." Percy grumbled as we made our way into the city. I had to agree with his lack of enthusiasm... the city was a dump. Sure, there were nice palm trees, and mountains in the distance, but the city itself was plain confusing. Streets seemed to run every which way, crossing back and forth and doing a good job of confusing me. I don't how Percy was navigating, until I realized he was just looking for a place to ditch the car. He finally parked the car and we all filed out onto the street.

I tried to get my bearings, but I had never been to this city. It was a sprawling mess. Usually I thrived in chaos, but this was too much. That could have been my urgency to finish the quest talking though. The sun was now rising steadily into the sky. It wasn't that hot, but definitely not the brisk fall weather I enjoyed in New York. I started to walk in a random direction, looking for a map. Turns out, I didn't need one. We had Nico at our side. He gave directions without hesitating, leading us right up to the fake studios that served as the entrance to the dead.

Mrs. O'Leary seemed pretty excited too. She kept running ahead, before bouncing back. A few times she came back with food in her mouth. We hadn't seen her since Kansas, so it was nice to have her back. If we were going to the underworld, I definitely wanted a hellhound by my side.

I don't know what I expected for the entrance to the Underworld. But when we walked in, I was surprised to see that it was basically a hotel lobby. A ton of semi-transparent people lounged around on the couches. There was a service desk with an individual reading a magazine. He had on sunglasses and was leaning back in his chair reading a fancy suit.

I looked over at Percy and he nodded, letting me know to take the lead. Together the five of us walked up to the desk. A couple of the ghost-things came up to Nico, and he shooed them away with his sword. Mrs. O'Leary was still her normal hellhound size, which was an impressive trick. She was sniffing all over the walls of the lobby. Being the entrance to the underworld, it probably smelled very hellhound friendly.

I leaned forward and rang the service bell on the desk. Mel gave me a sharp look, like "what do you think you're doing?" I just shrugged back. There was a bell, so I was gonna ring it. Made sense to me.

The guy raised one finger. He was apparently very invested in what he was reading. After a few awkward moments, he folded it up. Standing up, he leaned over the desk to get a better look at us.

"Charon, right?" I asked.

He nodded, not saying anything. Charon seemed very intrigued by our group. Finally he sighed. "Really Perseus? Why are you always coming to visit? What if I didn't let you go through this time, did you think about that?"

"Actually I've only come through once this way so..." Percy shrugged. Annabeth shoved him roughly, eyes widening in a silent warning. He didn't look that scary to me though, so I took a shot at convincing him to let us through.

"Well actually, sir. We're not trying to sneak in this time. We're trying to help Hades out. Some security issue, you know what I mean?" I beamed up at him, trying to convince him.

He leaned across the desk and lowered his sunglasses, "Really girl? Do you take me to be a fool?"

I raised my eyes brows, "Do you really want me to answer that?"

Annabeth clapped her hands over her mouth, and Percy had to bite his lip hard to keep from laughing.

Thankfully Nico was a quick thinker. Before Charon could blast me to bits (if he was even able to do that) he stepped forward quickly, "You really want to deal with my dad if you refuse to let us through?"

Charon frowned, scanning his eyes over the five of us. He hesitated when he looked at Maleah, his frown getting bigger. Then he turned back to Nico. "All five of you huh?"

"Yes."

He grunted, "Bad number. With any luck only three of you will get out so I don't get in too much trouble for doing this."

"Great!" I said enthusiastically, strolling past his desk. I pointed at the water. "There's supposed to be a boat right? Or do sounds just go splash splash across?"

"Unless you wish to jump in and have your soul slowly and painfully dissolve into nothing." He paused and glared over at me, "I would wait for the boat."

I nodded, pressing my lips together, "That sounds logical."

"What happened to the elevator?" Percy asked as he walked over to join me.

"Well Jackson, sometimes it's fun to go back into tradition and take a boat. Now get in you five, before I change my mind."

I blinked in surprise as a boat appeared out of nowhere. It didn't seem very solid. But I guess we didn't have a choice. We all slid into the boat and Percy whistled for his dog. She darted over, shrinking in size so she didn't sink our transportation.

Nico was the only one who looked relaxed. He leaned against the side of the boat, trailing his fingers through the water. I'm pretty sure that if any of us tried that, we would have been dragged in. I saw Annabeth slide her hand into Percy's. He leaned over and whispered in her ear. She smiled and rested against him. They were too cute together.

Mel stood close next to me. I could tell she was uncomfortable being surrounded by a bunch of dead people. A couple of times the boat would rock unpleasantly and she would grab onto my arm. Mel never looked this nervous. It sent my anxiety through the roof.

She didn't visibly relax until we had reached the underworld. I jumped onto the shoreline, the rocks looked like sharp chips of glass under my feet. I looked and took in my surroundings.

"Whoa." Was all I managed to get out. It was a massive cave. I saw formations hanging from the ceiling-stalactites or stalagmites?- and made a mental note to avoid those. There were two lines that lead beside the body of a massive Rottweiler. Cerberus.

I could see elysium and the isles of the blest off in the distance. Directly in front of us though were the fields of asphodel. It was a massive field, full of bridges and pathways that went every which way. Off in the stance, way to my left, I could feel a dark presence. I know that Tartarus lay in that direction.

Next, I took in the obsidian mansion. It was also massive, and I saw the smaller line walking in to the house. "They're going in their for judgment." Nico said. "Father has been reorganizing the underworld for the past few years. Trying to make it more organized, make everything flow better."

"Makes sense." I muttered, looking around at the land of the dead, "It looks nice."

"So now what?" It was Mel who jumped in to the conversation this time.

"I'm gonna guess we go past Cerberus now." I replied.

Turns out, that wasn't an issue. Cerberus seemed very excited to see Annabeth, wagging his tail excitedly at the sight of her. She smiled and pulled out three rubber bouncy balls. "I got one for each of you this time!" She called up. "Sit." She commanded.

I was impressed when the rottie sat down, his tail wagging so hard that the floor was shaking.

She tossed the balls into the air and the dog happily grabbed them. One for each head, just like she had promised. Her and Percy walked under his belly first. Mel followed. Nico whistled for Mrs. O'Leary to hang with him, and then they walked in as well. But for a moment I hesitated.

Cerberus saw me still standing there and instantly crouched down. His tail wagged in the air and all three heads dropped their balls at my feet. I smile tugged at the corner of my mouth. He had a bad reputation but I already liked the dog.

Disregarding the mission for the moment, I reached forward and stroked the middle dogs head. His tail thudded loudly on the ground. "Oh who's a good boy?" I crooned, as I turned to pet the left head. "You don't get enough attention do you baby?"

"Hey Ebony!" Nico yelled. "We can play later, come on."

I sighed. Couldn't I just have five minutes to hang out with my new friend. "I'll be back." I promised. I gave the bid dog a kiss on the nose before running over to my friends. He turned around quickly for an animal that big. My friends saw me coming and started walking forward again. But I couldn't resist turning around once more. He let out a soft whine. "Soon." I promised again. I sighed heavily. Why couldn't my life be somewhat normal? But Nico was right. It was time to finish this damn quest.

I turned and ran straight into the god.

I didn't need an introduction to know I was looking at Hades. He must have melted from the darkness. I was grateful that he wasn't full sized. He had robes of pure black, and his helm of darkness was tucked under his arm. The god of underworld had the same eyes as Nico. He frowned at me, but it wasn't an evil look. He looked almost... worried. Which didn't make sense coming from the god of the dead (Percy just informed me that the death dudes name is actually Thanatos but whatever).

"Father. What are you doing here?" Nico said

He fixed his son with a stern glare, "What am I doing here? This is my kingdom. And you are the ones who snuck in here without permission. Consider yourselves lucky. I have no desire to kill you heroes right now."

"Wow that's new for you!" Percy said. "Tuning over a new leaf?"

"So Lord Hades, what do you want then?" Annabeth said, she bowed respectfully to the god. She shot a stern glare over at Percy, probably warning him to shut up.

"Perseus. I would love to kill you. Still waiting for the day." He sighed dramatically, "But I do need a heroes help."

"I heard you weren't the helpful type?" I butted in.

His eyes lit up in fury. "I was the savior of Olympus! Against the Titan army, I was the god who showed up and made a difference in that war. I do help when needed."

"Wasn't that Percy who saved Olympus, if were being honest here?" I asked

"My dad made a pretty big difference too. I mean he did drag Typhoon back to Tartarus." Percy added.

Nico rolled his eyes. "That's it. Percy. Eddie. No more talking."

I opened my mouth to respond, but decided against it. I guess antagonizing Hades wasn't my smartest move. It's not like he would really kill me, right? I doubt he would want to anger my mother. If she even cared about my existence...

"We're sorry, My Lord." Mel said, she bowed to the god as well. "What is the problem?"

He narrowed his eyes at us. I could tell he was still pondering killing me and Percy. It was probably a good thing Nico was with us. Finally he grunted and said, "there's disturbances in the fields of Asphodel. And a dark presence grows stronger around Tartarus. I'm assuming that's why you are here, yes?"

I started to respond, but Nico slammed his hand over my mouth. "Exactly." He nodded, ignoring the evil glare I sent his way, "But that doesn't explain why you are."

"I'm here to tell you that if these spirits get out, it could mean the end of the age of gods."

"No pressure." Percy muttered.

"What do you mean?" That was Annabeth.

"I don't know who they are, or what they want. But I do know ancient prophecies. And one of them warns of the worst spirits escaping from the underworld and overthrowing the gods. It has been written. It will happen. Unless you stop it."

Nico kept his hand firmly on my mouth as he responded, "We won't fail you Father."

He snorted, "Please. You heirs always do. But try your best anyway. I warned you and that's all I can do." And on that note, he vanished into thin air.

Nico let go of my face with a disgusted look on his, "Did you lick my hand?"

I smiled innocently at him, "Don't try to stop me from speaking next time."

"Gross." He groaned, shaking his hand out.

"Can we get going?" Mel said tersely. She didn't wait for a response though. She shouldered past us and continued deeper into the underworld.

I shrugged and followed. Percy walked next to me and gave me a fist bump, "Glad to meet someone else with a talent for pissing off the gods." He stated.

"It's not a skill, its a death wish." Annabeth muttered.

Percy winked at me, before wrapping his arm around Annabeth, "And that is why you love me." He said brightly.

Annabeth gave him a stern look, "I do love you Seaweed brain. So why don't you use that brain of yours and maybe not antagonize every god that you see? I don't want to see you die from your big mouth."

He gave her a look of mock surprise, "Me? Big mouth? I would never."

She punched him in the shoulder, "You're an idiot."

"Okay I swear if you say 'But I'm you're idiot.' I'm going to have to kill you both." Nico said suddenly, sounded about 100 percent done with them.

Percy turned and gave him a thumbs up. We all fell silent once more, but I could still see a trace of a smile on Percy's lips. The underworld seemed to continue on forever. I swear the fields got farther and farther with every step. But finally the black gates started to loom larger. My heart sunk.

"Great." I said sarcastically, "Isn't this perfect."

Annabeth frowned, "Daedeleus has been doing too good of a job."

I didn't know what she meant by that. And truth be told, I didn't care. What I did care about was that there wasn't one just one gate entrance to the fields. We were standing at the main one, at the front. But it wasn't alone. Instead, there were many of them, probably hundreds, scattered around the area to keep the spirits in. How on earth would we find the gate that Percy kept seeing in his dreams?

"Now what?" Nico said, asking the only right question at a time like this.

I frowned, walking up to the first one. It was solid black iron. The gates stretched 30 feet in the air. They were shut tight. Just to experiment, I pushed all my weight against it. Naturally, it didn't budge.

The lines of the prophecy echoed through my head. The pit... something was trying to escape from Tartarus too. And if the two occupancies were linked. Then maybe the correct gates had to be close to Tartarus.

"We have to head deeper into the underworld." I announced

"Are you serious?" Mel snapped. I saw her jump nearly a foot in the air as a rumble ran trough the ground like an earthquake.

I ignored her and started stalking over the ground. My friends were forced to follow. Tartarus was still way off, but every step brought me closer. I could just feel it. My mom lived in Tartarus. Not only could I feel the darkness around me getting heavier, more dangerous, but I could feel the darkness inside of me fighting to break out.

We seemed to walk forever, none of us talking. I kept glancing around, afraid that something was going to attack us at any moment. We walked by gate after gate, but none of them felt right. When we would peer into the gates, there was no sign of a spirit trying to bust out.

We kept going until there was only one set of gates left. And I knew we had reached our destination. There was no breeze in the underworld, but the gates knocked against each other. The metal screeched, making me want to cover my ears.

"That's them." Percy breathed out, "I know it is."

"Cool. And what are we supposed to do here?" That was Nico

I hesitated, trying to decide. If there was someone trying to break out, what could we possibly do? "Give me a minute guys, I'm trying to think." I went over the prophecy again in my head. Something was still missing, and I was frustrated. I felt like I was looking through the fog, trying to make out the details. If a spirit was escaping, we had to let them get out. Then we could battle them back in. There wasn't really another logical way to do it. I turned back to my team, ready to tell them the plan. The shitty plan to "stand and wait" and basically do nothing.

"Mel, where are you going?" Annabeth said suddenly. I glanced up in time to see her approaching the gates. She was striding confidently across the ground, with seemingly no fear. It was like the gates were calling her.

"Mel wait." I said slowly, my skin crawling.

She ignored me and walked closer. The black gates continued to rattle, like Typhoon himself was trying to escape from them. How could one spirit make them shake this much?!I exchanged a worried glance with Percy and together we crept up behind her. Annabeth and Nico stood guard, pulling out their weapons.

All of a sudden, the gates stopped moving. Deathly still, like the should be. Everything was silent, as if the entire underworld was holding its breath. Mel hesitantly reached up and put her hand on the gate. "Guys..." she started to say, confusion spreading across her face.

She never got to finish though. A huge wind blasted through the underworld and nearly knocked me over. I stumbled into Percy, who grabbed me to keep me on my feet. He pulled his pen out, ready for an attack. Mel backed up from the gates, her eyes wide in shock. A whisper ran through the underworld. The chills running down my spine turned into a full on shudder. And for a moment I was completely paralyzed. Not from fear though. It was as if some invisible force was holding me in place, preventing me from moving. Then the gates to Asphodel burst open with a loud clang.


	11. The Missing Piece

_**This chapter is the main chapter, the big hype, action packed, lots of shit going down, all the fun stuff. Also I'm going to jump back and forth between Eddie and Percy's POV. At the top of each section I'll put the characters name. It only switches twice so it's really not that confusing I promise. There are no time breaks in this chapter, it's flowing straight through. One big action packed climax for this fic. There are still two more chapters after this one, but this is the biggie. Enjoy!**_

* * *

 **Chapter 10- Ebony and Percy**

 **The Missing Piece**

* * *

 **PERCY**

When the gates burst open, I don't know what I was expecting. Maybe a group of the worlds worst serial killers. Or Hitler, maybe. Instead, two teenagers walked out. The doors instantly shut behind them, as if their work was done. I realized that I was still holding onto Eddie's shoulder. And the scary thing was that she hadn't pushed me away yet. Which could only mean she was as shocked as the rest of us.

The two men stepped towards us, and my blood ran cold. Because I knew who they were. The one was taller and skinnier. He had deathly pale skin, and a cruel smile plastered on his face. And the other...

"Luke?" Annabeth choked out behind me.

"Octavian." Nico growled, raising his sword, "Good. I never got the chance to gut you when you walked the earth."

Eddie finally realized that I was holding her shoulder and wrenched it out of my grasp. I was too chocked to say anything. Two of my oldest enemies were standing in front of me. They looked exactly the same as they did when they were alive. Luke had his scar, with his sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. And Octavian... pale and skinny, but just as dangerous.

Before I could figure out what to do or say, the ground started rumbling. Thank the gods that the girls still had their brains functioning.

Mel looked over at her sister, "Ed, the prophecy. We're going to have to split up."

Eddie seemed to snap out of her daze. "Can you guys?"

"Yes." Nico snapped back. "We've got this, you get to the pit!"

Eddie locked eyes with me and I nodded, letting her know it was okay. I understood why she was hesitating, splitting was a bad idea. She cast one more worried glance over at the two spirits, before she took off, her sister by her side. I drew my sword and watched as Luke and Octavian came closer.

I couldn't keep my eyes off of Luke. The look on his face was cruel and twisted. He wasn't the same hero who had sacrificed himself on my Olympus to save us all. This was the man who had tried to kill a twelve year old with a scorpion. The man that had lured Annabeth into a trap and nearly killed her. The man that hated the gods enough to host Kronos himself.

If I'm being completely honest, I had never forgiven him. Sure he made the right choice in the end. So what? Should I just forget what he did? Should I just discount all the times I almost died at his hand? And what about the people that did die at his hand, or as a Direct result of the decisions that he made. Beckendorf. Silena. Lee Fletcher. All gone because of Luke's hatred. I could never bring this up with Annabeth. She had forgiven him, called him a hero. Hero in the end does not equal a hero in life.

The five of us stood there, a simple standoff. No one wanted to make the first move. "Why are you doing this?" I finally asked. My voice cut through the air like a knife, both relieving and increasing the tension building in the air. My tone did nothing to help, it was tight, and I could barely keep the despair from creeping into it.

Luke laughed, "It's funny. You hear one thing. Do a good deed. And what? What is it all for Jackson?" His blue eyes stared into mine, full of anger.

"What are you talking about?" Annabeth said, I noticed that she was shaking a bit. Her grey eyes were dark, but not angry. She looked like someone had just slapped her in the face.

"Elysium." He snarled back, the cold smile vanishing from his face, "I was supposed to be there but instead I ended up in the fields. Doing nothing. For eternity. Do you have any idea what that is like?" He spit out those last words. I felt like the weight of the sky was on my shoulders again, pushing me down. Luke sounded... insane. Like a psychopath intent on revenge. And that was terrifying.

I was glad to have my friends at my side, especially when Nico spoke up next, "Well, you did try to kill Percy when he was only 12, and again when he was 13, and you hosted Kronos, and you tried to overthrow the gods. Oh you trapped a goddess as well, forced Annabeth to hold up the sky, led an entire army to camp which resulted in many deaths. Do you want me to keep going? Because from my point of view you were never a hero." Nico hissed. I silently agreed with him. I mean I'll say it as many times as possible. Sure, he was good in the last few minutes of his life. He made the ultimate sacrifice to save us all. But it would not have been necessary. He had let his hatred control his actions and many good people were dead because of it. One good deed can't erase years of horrible decisions.

I saw Annabeth close her eyes and take a few deep breaths. She was steeling herself for what was to come. It was time to fight Luke again. Even though she loved him as a brother, it was still hard for her. I could only hope that she was going to be okay. After everything we went through together... I worried about her. If she had a panic attack now... I told my head to shut up. My girlfriend was strong, much stronger than me. She could handle this.

Luke didn't respond to any of Nico's criticism. Instead he turned to me. I was silently thankfully that his eyes were blue. Sure those bright blue eyes still haunted my nightmares, but not nearly as bad as the golden ones. "I'm surprised how dumb you still are Prissy." He sneered. "All this time together, a cross country journey, and you never realized who the traitor was? Deja Vu my dear boy. You never saw betrayal even when it was staring you in the face."

Luke always knew how to throw me off balance. Was he implying that the traitor was in our group? Because if he was... But I pushed down my misgivings and confronted him instead. "You died a hero Luke. And yet here you are. Corrupted once more. I trusted you. You saved my life. And now you're right back to where you started." I paused for a monent, "Do you have no honor?"

"Enough talk." Octavian sneered, before like could respond. He pulled out a golden sword. "I've waited too long for this."

Nico stepped forward as well, his sword leveled at Octavians chest. I knew how much those two hated each other. But before either could strike, Annabeth let out a loud gasp. "Percy!"

I turned around. She looked horrified. She had come to the same realization as me. And it wasn't anything to do with our ghostly friends. This was something different. "Go." Was all she managed to get out. I saw her turn to face Luke, holding her knife out in a challenge, "We can hold them off."

I backed away, letting myself think about What Luke had told me. In our group, of course. In that instant, everything became clear. It was a setup, the entire quest. It had been nothing but a trap. Misleading and deadly. I scrambled backwards, watching as my friends approached the spirits. And then with a yell, Nico charged for Octavian. He jumped backwards, countering with his sword. Luke ran towards Annabeth and she stepped forward boldly to meet him. The underworld exploded in battle. So loud and ferocious that it was hard to believe only four people were fighting. But I forced myself to look away. This wasn't my fight. Instead, I ran like a madman to the edge of Tartarus.

* * *

 **EBONY**

Trying to run through the underworld is a challenge. Especially when it's trembling like a leaf. Imagine running through an unpaved trail in the mountains, at midnight, during an earthquake. That's kind of what it felt like trying to get to the edge of Tartarus. Add in a massive wind storm to take the cake.

Maleah grabbed my hand as we ran towards the edge. Usually I would have complained, but under these circumstances... it was comforting to have a familiar presence. We were in the land of the dead, approaching the prison for monsters. Two ghosts (or spirits, whatever) were battling our friend. Everything was going to shit. I had to have my sister there to comfort me, and I had to be there to keep her strong.

As we approached the edge of the pit, I heard footsteps behind us. I slowed, but my sister yanked on my hand, encouraging me to keep going. The wind continued to howl around us. The steps grew louder. Mel gave me a worried look, but we kept running. All of a sudden, I heard his voice.

"Ebony, wait!" Percy's voice rang out from behind us. Mel let go of my hand and turned around. I swear she rolled her eyes.

"Percy?" I started, looking at Mel in confusion. She kept glancing over her shoulder. We were almost to the pit. The rocks were like broken glass, and the wind was pulling us towards the edge of Tartarus. It was only a few hundred yards away. Something was off about it... If some creature was trying to get out, why would the wind be pulling us there?

"Percy, what are you doing here?" Mel yelled above the wind, "Go help Annabeth and Nico!"

Something was definitely wrong. There was no way Percy would have left Annabeth behind like that. Unless... "Percy, what did you find out? What's going on?"

Mel tried to pull On my hand again. "Eddie we have to go now! We have to stop the monster from escaping that pit!"

But I shook my head and stayed put, waiting for Percy to catch up. My skin crawled, like I had ants running all over it. I felt like I was on the verge of some huge realization, but there was still one piece missing. One crucial thing that wouldn't allow me to connect the dots.

"Funny that you say 'we'." Percy snapped as he caught up with us, giving my sister an evil glare. Then he turned back to me. "It's a trap, Eddie. Don't listen to her. Stay away from the pit."

My brain seemed to be moving more sluggish than normal. Was he accusing Mel of being a traitor? But that wouldn't make sense. He took another step towards us, his hand moving towards his pocket. Percy looked terrifying. His eyes were dark and I realized that it was harder to breath. In his anger, I could imagine Percy was drAwing water out of the air. I took a few nervous steps away from him and Mel, suddenly feeling the need to distance myself. "It was all just a trap wasn't it Maleah?" He growled out, "The entire thing? You used us all to get them out."

"Percy, what are you talking about?" Mel gasped, fear in her eyes. She took a step away from him as well.

Percy instantly went into action. He stepped between me and my sister, shoving me behind him, and drawing out his sword. I was so confused that I didn't even complain. What was he going on about?

Mel held up her hands in a surrender gesture. "Percy, please. Listen to me. You only know part of the story." Her voice was pleading, like her life depended on his understanding. And judging by the expression on Percy's face, it probably did.

"No. You listen to me. I know what you've done." He spat out, holding his sword out, "Who are you planning to get out of Tartarus? Gonna shove your own flesh and blood in for the power?" I stepped out from behind him, not sure what to do. This couldn't be happening.

"Percy I..." her eyes flickered back and forth between me and Percy. She looked scared and confused. I swallowed the lump in my throat. I didn't want to fight off Percy, but I couldn't let him just attack my sister. But all of a sudden, Mel's expression hardened, "I don't have time for this." She snapped. It happened so quickly that Percy and I had no chance to respond. Maleah stepped forward quickly and slammed her fist into the side of Percy's head. He crumpled to the ground.

"Percy!" I cried out, leaning down and shaking his shoulder. Mel must have had a rock in her hand when she hit him. A large lump was forming. Why would she do that? He was just trying to help. Maybe she thought it was dangerous for him at the pit or maybe...

Your real friends will show themselves. A small voice inside my head hissed at me 'remember the prophecy.' And everything crashed down like a wave. Pain and betrayal lay hidden at the brink. No. No no no. This can't be what it meant. No.

"Maleah." I said, it came out as a whisper.

Without realizing it, I was starting to back away from her. Percy still lay on the ground, knocked out cold. And when my sister turned towards me, it felt like I couldn't breath. Her face was twisted in a cruel smile, not like her at all. Her golden eyes shone with malice. And my world came crashing down completely. I should have seen it. The eagle, the monster in Nevada, she had purposefully allowed me to get injured. She wanted me out of the way.

"You were planning this all along weren't you?"

She laughed, a sound that didn't match the twisted look on her face, "And you're supposed to be the smart one."

"So you did try to kill me. With the eagle. That wasn't just a freak accident."

"No."

"And Nevada? With the Phoenix. And the griffin on my birthday. You summoned them all didn't you?"

"And that's why they call you a genius isn't it?" She sneered.

"You tried to kill me." I repeated, the realization almost too much for me to bear.

"Yes. You got in my way." She said casually. Like it was the easiest decision in the world.

She may have stabbed me in the heart with those words. She tossed them out so carelessly. She didn't love me. I was just some random individual. And I didn't fit into her plans. Helplessness threatened to overwhelm me. I was nothing to her. I was nothing to my sister, my confidant, my best friend.

"So why aren't you killing me now?" I finally managed to get out after what seemed like a century of silence between us.

She spread her arms, "Look where we are Ebony. This is our home court. We are the daughters of Nyx herself. Children of Tartarus. I have worked with the titans and the giants who are more powerful than the gods." Her voice rang out powerfully as she stood in front of me, explaining her vision.

"Do you have any idea what we can do if we tap into our own demons? If we use them, instead of being afraid of them. We can become Shadow. Manipulate darkness. Kill people with just a look." She glanced around the underworld, that power hungry look in her amber eyes, "And you can try and try to fit in, but we have always been, and always will be outcasts." She paused, fixing her golden eyes on me.

"Power with no direction is dangerous." I tried to reason with her.

"Oh I have plenty of direction." She dropped her arms to her side, "I know my fight. I have my reasons. And one of them is that I am more powerful than the gods themselves. I am more powerful than the giants. Stronger than the titans. None can stand against me once I develop my powers. I aim to rule this world."

"We will stop you." I said, trying and failing to keep a tremor out of my voice.

She laughed again, "We? Annabeth, the smart one. Already compromised at just the sight of her old boyfriend. Nico? He struggles with his own devils, and isn't always on the right side. He is way to manipulate. Percy? He's knocked out in the underworld. When I'm done with you, he'll be dead next."

"You underestimate me."

"Oh no sister. You underestimate me."

"What do you want from me? Why am I still talking to you?" I finally cried out.

"You're going to join us. Or you're going to suffer and die. Think about it Isa my dear. You and I. Together. Rebuilding the world brand new. Unlimited power. Unlimited strength."

I closed my eyes tightly, wishing for it to all be a dream. My chest was so tight, like an entire building had collapsed on it. For a moment, everything started to spin out of control. I could feel a panic attack coming on. And the worst part was that I could feel myself being tempted. It did make sense. After everything we had gone through. It would be nice to finally give in to my power. Why shouldn't I? What was there to lose by doing it? Then I remembered Percy's voice in my head, "I went through Tartarus, and I've faced so many demons. Sometimes you struggle. And sometimes you panic. And there may come a day when you question everything. Your purpose, your relationships... But I promise you that your real friends will never leave your side."

I snapped my eyes open. Maleah was walking towards me, slowly. "No." I said, determination filling me up. The demon that wanted to escape seemed to yell in my ears as I pushed that power back inside of me. "I will never be a part of your plans. I will not allow my own darkness consume me."

"Shame." She pulled out her sword, looking at it curiously, "Together we could have been unstoppable. But getting rid of you works just as well." She started towards me again. I let out a low growl in my throat, pushing down all my emotions. It wasn't time for sadness, or fear. It was time to act. So naturally, I froze and didn't do anything. But Mel did. She lunged first, swinging her sword. I tried to duck out of the way but it slashed across my forehead.

Blood started dripping down into my eyes, and I shook my head roughly. I don't know if it was the adrenaline or the shock, possibly both, but I didn't feel the pain. Time to forget everything I knew and let instinct take over. With a snarl, I leapt at her. She countered my attack, trying to keep me at swords length. I landed and swiped at her in leopard form, before jumping backwards as she slashed downwards. We continued like this for a while. I went on the attack, before immediately being back on defense. She was skilled with the blade. Mel aimed for my legs and my belly, trying to get me off balance and knock me out.

We fought viciously, backing up closer and closer to the edge of Tartarus. Soon we were only 20 or so yards away from the edge. She pressed me hard, even though she wasn't going for a kill stroke. I didn't want to know her exact plans, I just wanted to beat her.

Mel continued her attack. But she forgot something. She forgot she was fighting her own sister. And damn it, if I wasn't smart... I went completely on the defense, letting her attack me. As she did, I analyzed her fight pattern, looking for my opportunity. Mel had seen me fight many times, as a wolf and as a dragon. And of course I had fought with my knife. The one time she had seen me fight as a leopard was when we were attacked in the woods a week ago. She didn't know how I fought as a leopard, which gave me the upper hand. She wasn't thinking like that though. She just kept attacking. After a few more good slashes, I finally saw my moment.

I darted under her next swing, and crashed into her chest. The force of my leap was enough to send her sprawling. Snarling, I dug my claws into her shoulders, pinning her down. I had her. One big swipe of my paw would knock her out. We could go back to camp, figure things out. And then I made the mistake of looking at her. Her eyes seemed soft again, like they always were when she was praising or encouraging me. The smile was gone from her face. And I could see a small tear trace it's way down her cheek. And for a few moments I hesitated. Breathing heavily, looking into my sisters face. I couldn't bring myself to hurt her and I definitely couldn't just kill her in cold blood... I couldn't become that monster.

A sudden explosion of pain racked through my body, and I was blasted away from my sister. The blast hit my abdomen with so much power that I landed at least twenty feet away from her. My entire body ached, and my stomach hurt so bad that I wanted to curl onto the ground and cry. My pained mind managed to make the connection between the dark energy and... Mel. My sister had learned to use our mothers gift. She stood up, smirking in my direction and twirling her sword around. Between the shock and the pain, my brain was still struggling to keep up. I made one connection and it was like I had fried it. Before I could move to defend myself, Mel charged at me. She slashed her sword across my leg, and I fell down on one knee. My hands reached out instinctively, grabbing my sisters shoulder to break my fall. My right leg hit the ground hard, pain lancing through me. A shockwave seemed to travel from the ground to the deep cut above my knee. I glanced down, feeling dizzy at the bright red blood flowing from the wound. And while I was on my knee, focused on my leg, Mel pulled out a knife and stabbed me in my shoulder.

Shock made the moment freeze in time. The disbelief of seeing a blade sticking out of my shoulder. The denial of who put it there. Then came the pain. White hot, blinding, pain. Was that the blade against my bone? Did it matter? I screamed, reaching up with my hand to grab the blade, reason abandoning me. I had to get it out. Fire lanced through my arm. I dared to look at my sister once more. She was sneering down at me. Why couldn't this be a nightmare, just a stupid dream? But I knew better. This was reality. The person digging a blade into my shoulder, and watching me bleed at her feet... that person was my SISTER. I summoned all the strength I had left in me, both physical and emotional, and managed to shove her away from me, wrenching the knife out in the process. I got to my feet, trembling. My leg was cut pretty deep: I couldn't put any weight on it. I was losing too much blood. I had to strike now.

I tried to stumble towards her. My world was fading in and out of focus. Why wasn't she attacking me? If I wasn't seeing double, I could have just thrown my knife. But I didn't know which Mel was real. I shook my head roughly, and forced myself to focus on the details. I noticed she wasn't looking at me anymore. Instead, both versions were looking beyond me.

"Perfect timing." Mel smiled coldly. I whipped around, causing my vision to fade to black. I was Too late. Another blast of energy hit me in the chest, but this was much more painful. My eyesight returned, and I saw a blinding light exploding against my chest. The blast was a ball of pure fire. As the explosion knocked me backwards, soaring through the air, I knew I was badly burned. Time slowed down. Gods of Olympus it BURNED. And then I hit the rocks. For the brief moment before I lost consciousness, i realized I was near at the edge of the pit. I slid across the ground, the sharp rocks scraping up my back. Then my skull slammed against the rock, and the world turned black.

* * *

 **PERCY**

I don't know what woke me up. Maybe it was the sudden blast of heat, something that definitely didn't belong this close to Tartarus. But I think it was the scream. The worst sound I had ever heard, because I didn't know Ebony could sound like that. She was only twelve, and she had so much pain in her cry... this wasn't fair.

I scrambled to my feet, desperate to get to Eddie. And what I saw made my blood run cold. My friend was on one knee, her sister looming over her. But the worst was the individual climbing out of the pit. The blast of heat was coming from him. I was close enough to recognize that it was Hyperion. I started running towards them, terrified over what was about to happen. And I saw Ebony stumble to her feet, before a ball of fire slammed into her.

My heart skipped a beat as she flew towards Tartarus. I couldn't imagine what would happen if she fell in the pit. Then she hit the ground and skidded across the sharp rocks. I saw her head slam into a rock, and I winced. That blow was almost hard enough to kill her.

Hyperion and Maleah both laughed, the worst sound to echo through the under world. They started to walk towards her, and I poured on the speed. Please don't let her be dead, I prayed as I ran towards her, "please whoever is listening. She's only twelve. She doesn't deserve this." I jumped in front of Ebony just before they reached her.

"Stay. The hell. Away from her." I panted out, leveling my sword.

The Titan laughed at me, "You could barely defeat me when you had the curse boy. You want to try again?"

"Let him try." Mel sneered, "Two birds with one stone."

"I beat you once." I growled, stepping back to protect Ebony. She was starting to stir a little bit, but not near enough to defend herself. She was bleeding from a cut on her leg and a deep wound in her shoulder. The rock that she had hit was stained red as well, implying a head wound. But the worst was the deep slash that ran across her forehead. It started above her right eye, slashed through her eyebrow, and ran all the way across her head, before disappearing in the hairline near her temple. The blood was still flowing from it, turning her face red. And her breath was fluttering in and out. She was in bad shape. And she was twelve. Twelve. How could this be happening?

Maleah's voice snapped my attention away from my injured friend "You only beat him once." She corrected, her smile cold enough to freeze the Sahara, "But you know you don't stand a chance against both of us."

She wAs right. I knew it. But i couldn't let them take Eddie. I could only imagine the pain she was in. I remember how it felt when Luke had betrayed me. Now I put myself in her place. How bad would it be if Grover had betrayed me on that quest instead? Would I have been able to recover?

"You're right." I said out loud. I capped my sword and knelt down next to Ed. I placed my hand on her forehead. Her skin was cold and clammy. She was so pale that she looked ashen. Eddie needed medical attention, and she needed it now. And what was worse, I had an idea what they were planning. They had used her as a punching bag, purposefully not killing her. The implications were too horrible to think about. Considering her age, and everything she had gone through. No. I would never let them take her alive. I knew what I had to do.

I stood up and turned towards the two of them. I knew they were hesitating to attack. Hyperion had experienced my skill first hand. And Mel knew how protective I was. If they attacked now, I would be able to drag one of them down with me. Beating both of them was near impossible, especially since I didn't know what Mel was capable of. But just one... that I could do.

It wouldn't work though. If I fought now, two of us would die. And Eddie would be left at the mercy of whoever was left. I couldn't use my sword to get out of this one. I had to take a different approach. Diplomacy. Make an offer they couldn't refuse. The horrible answer came to me. I had to break my promise to Annabeth. "Take me." I said.

Mel laughed, "You think you can bargain with us? We already have both of you. You aren't getting out of this one Jackson."

I didn't respond to her, I had eyes only for Hyperion, "I sent you back to Tartarus. You want me to take you both on, I will. But I'll die. And I will make damn sure that I drag one of you down with me. You know I won't just surrender to you right now and I will never let you take Eddie alive. But this is my bargain. What I'm offering you is revenge."

His golden eyes seemed to glow brighter at that word, so I swept on, "Revenge." I repeated, "I will go with you. Now. Alive. No fighting. Just leave her alone. Torture me, kill me, throw me in Tartarus, Do whatever you want. Take me, and she stays."

"Percy?" Ebony was stirring behind me. She was completely out of it, I don't think she even saw me. Her eyes were glassy and unfocused. I wanted to jump over to her, tell her to lay still. Make sure she stayed relaxed until Annabeth and Nico showed up. But I couldn't turn my attention away from the two enemies that stood in front of me. And once again, I underestimated Eddie's intelligence. Because even though she was barely conscious, and probably in a ton of pain, she still understood the situation. She could hear me, even if she was hardly able to look at me, "Percy...no."

Mel looked at Eddie with disgust in her eyes. "As much as I want to get rid of her..." she glanced at Hyperion, and he nodded. I tried to push down the fear rushing through me. He looked... hungry. "With any luck she'll die anyway from those wounds. I accept your offer."

"Percy what's going on?" Eddie groaned from the ground. Her green eyes were more alert now, snapping back and forth between me and her sister. She knew wha was happening, she had made the connection already. I saw her try to push herself into a sitting position. But her arm gave out on her. "PERCY."

I ignored her and walked forward. Every molecule in my body was screaming at me to turn back, to help Ebony. She could die from those wounds. But I knew I couldn't do that. The deal had been made. My only hope was that Annabeth and Nico would be here in time to save her.

"PERCY!" She screamed again, I could hear pain in her voice. I couldn't tel if it was from her physical wounds or emotional. But I forced myself to keep going, ignoring her increasingly desperate yells. I stopped five feet from the girl that I used to trust. Mel waved her hand through the air and chains appeared out of the darkness, solidifying into handcuffs. She had learned to use her abilities. I made a mental note to warn the others. I could only imagine what kind of dark powers she could develop. Then I remembered... I may never see my friends again. This could very well be my last day on earth. Then Hyperion stepped forward and grabbed me roughly by the collar.

"Percy please no." Ebony cried again from behind me, her voice cracking. I made the mistake of turning around. She tried to stand up, but fell over, nearly passing out again. Her face was streaked in blood, dirt, and... Oh gods, she was crying. I never would have imagined that I would see Eddie cry, with how strong she was. There was so much blood... too much. I swallowed hard, forcing back my tears. I sent another prayer up to the gods "Please, let her live." I had to force down the urge to run to her side. She needed me now more than ever. But I couldn't, and turning away was one of the hardest things I have ever done.

"Ready?" Hyperion asked. I managed to tear my eyes away from her. I glared at Hyperion, sending a silent challenge. You may have won for now. I thought. But the moment I get out of this, I'm going to destroy you.

Mel nodded, and I gave her the same glare. "You just earned a spot in the fields of punishment forever." I hissed at her. The hatred running through me... it took all my willpower to control it. I made a bargain to come quietly with no fighting. But I wanted to kill her more than I had ever wanted to kill anyone.

Mel smiled and cocked her head, "Oh honey." She teased, "The underworld will be long gone when my plans are through." She reaches forward and tugged on my chains, making sure they were tight enough. Eddie continued to beg me to listen to her. Telling me she wasn't worth saving. I continued to ignore it, the lump in my throat getting bigger. Eddie didn't deserve this. I stared off into the distance, barely keeping my composure. Then Mel grabbed my hand, and the world did a 360 as we traveled through the shadows out of the underworld, Eddie's yells fading in the background.

* * *

 _ **Don't you just love cliffhangers? :) Anywa, next chapter will be up later this week, then the last chapter will be up by the weekend! Still looking for an editor/beta reader for the rest of this series if anyone is interested! I have five planned total. I have goo dplans for the third and fourth fic, and a starting point for the third one. (naturally I have zero plans for the 2nd one) Anyway, likes and review are still always and forever appreciated!**_


	12. Waking Up

_**Second to last chapter, tying loose ends, and setting up for the second pic in the series! I actually love the comfort part of Hurt/Comfort stories, but for some reason this one was a bit harder for me to write. I hope you guys enjoy it, Last chapter will be up tomorrow!**_

I don't know how long I sat there, screaming into the void. I felt like Percy was going to be okay if he would just answer me. There was no way he would just sacrifice himself for me like that. I wasn't worth it.

Annabeth grabbed my arm, "Where is he?" She said desperately, "Where is Percy?"

She looked around wildly, "PERCY! PERSEUS!" She screamed, before turning back to me with panicked eyes, "Where is he?" She repeated, more urgent than ever. The world was starting to blur again around me. I was starting to breath heavily again.

"Annabeth!" Nico looked shocked, "Stop! You're going to hurt her."

Did it hurt? I didn't even realize that Annabeth was still shaking my arm roughly. Everything just felt numb. There wasn't any pain. It was just disbelief. The part of me that could still think logically made the connection that I was probably going into shock. I heard Annabeth asking me something else, but things were starting to fade out again. How badly injured was I?

Nico's voice cut in, yelling at me, something about staying awake?

"Ebbie, you need to breathe, you need to relax!"

Wait a minute…. that wasn't Nico. Or Annabeth.

"Ebbie, please. I'm still here, keep fighting!"

"I don't know what to do!" I cried back in my head, reaching out to Nuka, "I can't!"

I could feel her presence, "Remember that time when we explored the forest together?"

I tried to control my breathing, focusing on my friends words, "I remember that I was super nervous. I mean, my dad was going to be so mad when he found out! But you didn't mind. You kept telling me that you don't have any real friends, and it was great to finally have one. And so I relaxed and it was such a fun day. We learned how to fight and hunt together."

I began to relax, and the pain suddenly started to return. My head, my chest… my fricken leg! And the worst, my shoulder, both a throbbing and a shooting pain. I closed my eyes and continued my focus on breathing. For a few moments there was silence; well in my head at least. Nico and Annabeth were still talking but I blocked them out. "That was the day when I realized that you were and would forever be my best friend." I took in a deep shaky breath. When your entire world seems to be crumbling around you, having one friend by your side can keep you fighting. I was determined, at that exact moment, to stay alive for her.

I wish I could tell you what happened next. Truth is that I don't remember most of it. I don't even remember how we got back to camp. The entire time, Nico never left my side. Annabeth was more distant. I knew that they were out of nectar and ambrosia. I knew they were trying to get me back to camp in time. Luka's voice in my ear kept me going, she never stopped encouraging me. She talked to me about the adventures she had been on with her father. She told me about her favorite places, and where we could go together. But most importantly, she didn't bring up her name, not even once. The last thing that I remember was seeing the entrance to camp, the golden dragon that guarded the tree, and a camper running for help. Then I finally let myself fade completely out of consciousness, knowing that I was back home.

* * *

I have the best dreams. I don't know if it was a perk of being the daughter of Nyx, but I never had the typical demigod dreams that Percy told me about. Instead I had normal people dreams. Or wolf dreams. Whatever. The point is that they weren't dark or scary. Or helpful. But they were pain free. So that was a big plus. I dreamed about riding roller coasters, playing with Nuka, receiving school prizes, scoring a winning goal on a sports team…. all the good stuff.

When I finally woke up, I knew instantly that I was in the big house. I was laying comfortably on a bed, piled high with blankets and a feather pillow supporting my head. I blinked sharply, the white lights nearly blinding me. Well, I was alive at least. Got to stay positive when your life is rapidly turning into a hellhole.

"You're awake." I heard a voice from across the room. I sat up slowly, letting out a groan. My whole body was sore, like I had spent the last twelve hours working out. Everything ached, my head includes. But there wasn't any sharp pain on my body. Another small victory. I had to count my blessings after what happened.

Nico stood at the end of the room. He looked paler than normal, "How long?" I asked. My voice was raw, as if I hadn't used it in a long time.

"Almost two weeks." He was definitely freaked out, "Annabeth and I didn't know if we would..." he swallowed hard, "But you're here now and awake. So you're gonna be just fine, okay?"

I nodded. So everything had happened. And Percy... oh gods. Percy. He was gone. I didn't know if he was still alive. I wanted to ask, but I didn't know how. Nico continued to stand there, leaning against the wall. He was waiting for me to say something. I reached up to brush the hair out of my face and froze. There was a bump on my forehead. I traced it down to my eye, and then up to my hairline.

"I'm sorry." Nico cut in. He looked ready to cry, "We got there too late to. The blade was Stygian iron and." He looked away, "I'm so sorry." He repeated.

I wanted to say something, let him know it wasn't his fault, I didn't blame him. But I found that I just couldn't. This was just what I needed. The best way to make sure you never fit in is to become permanently disfigured. Finally I got up the courage, "Do you have a mirror?" I asked out, a slight tremor in my voice.

"Percy's back." He blurted out suddenly, ignoring my question.

A small weight was lifted off of my shoulders. More good news that I desperately needed to hear. But that didn't change much... I couldn't forgive myself. He had taken the fall for me. It wasn't fair. And besides... I needed to see what had happened to me.

"Mirror please." I repeated, my voice tight.

Suddenly the door burst open, and Will came charging in, "Ebony, you're awake!"

"Can I have…"

"Nope. Shut up. I need to make sure you're doing okay." Will came rushing over to the bed. "Any pain? Are you feeling woozy or nauseous? You're not bleeding anywhere, right? The wound on your forehead looks excellent, mostly closed up. But I'll need to check your leg and shoulder. The shoulder wound is the only one with stitches still of course."

"I feel fine, why are you freaking out so much?" I answered, not even attempting to answer his questions.

Will ignored me (I was starting to get used to this) "Why didn't you tell me that she was awake?!" he cried at Nico.

Nico threw his hands up in exasperation, "She literally just woke up."

"Hello? I'm still here?" I tried interrupting.

"She has been in a coma! I told you to call me instantly if she woke up."

"Literally. She woke up a minute ago." Nico repeated.

The two guys glared at each other, arms crossed.

"Okay, what's going on you two?" I said, trying to get their attention back on me. I definitely didn't want to get caught up in the middle of a relationship squabble. And I knew they were hiding something. "What are you not telling me?" I asked

Nico gave a slight nod to Will. And in turn, Will turned over to me "There's a reason why you've been out for so long. I mean, the wounds were normal type of wounds. Not poisoned or any injections, that sort of thing." I continued to glare at him, asking him to keep talking.

Will took a deep breath, "Annabeth and Nico didn't have any nectar or ambrosia on them when they found you. So they shadow travelled as fast as they could back to camp. We ran you up here, hoping that we could get some nectar in you and you would be fine in a couple days."

"But I wasn't" I muttered. "Why?"

"Because it didn't work."

"What do you mean?"

Nico messaged his forehead, like he was trying to ease a headache, "We don't know why. It's like something was blocking it. For some reason, your wounds are healing like, well, normal wounds. So we had to literally stitch you up. We tried giving you ambrosia, but it just didn't do anything. Nothing good, nothing bad. Most of the wounds, your leg, shoulder, and head are all closed up and mostly healed. There is scar tissue though. The burns though are still healing."

Will nodded, "We reckon those will be healed in the next week or two. We did have to splint your leg a little bit while it was healing initially, but it should be fine now. You'll probably be a little extra tired and weaker than normal though. You just have to recover fully. Two weeks in a coma is never the best thing for your health."

"Blocked? But, I'm a demigod, shouldn't it work? I mean, I healed on the quest just fine."

"It's almost like some sort of curse has been placed on you, not allowing magical healing. Even my healing that I know from Apollo didn't do anything. Typical mortal medicine is what saved your life." Will said.

I had so many questions, but none of it seemed that important right now. I'll be honest, all I could think about was the scar on my face. Percy was safe, I was going to recover, but how bad did I look? I'm sorry, but I'm freaking twelve. And I don't have many friends as is. I cared about my appearance to an extent. And I don't care how whiny it sounds. I didn't want to have an ugly scarred face.

"Can I have a mirror. Please?" I asked once more.

It was Will who went over and grabbed one for me. "Take it easy today, okay? I still want you sleeping here, so we can keep an eye on you and make sure you're still healing okay."

I nodded in agreement. Will turned and walked out of the room, but Nico stayed. He didn't say anything, just came over and sat down on the corner of my bed. Having a good friend being there for support gave me the courage to look in the mirror.

It looked terrible. The scar started right above my eye, I was very lucky that it didn't blind me. The white tissue slashed my eyebrow in half. It went straight across my forehead, a ghastly indent. It disappeared into my hairline, which was now set back slightly near my ear due to the scar tissue. I wanted to cry. There went my last chance of ever being accepted.

"Let's get some fresh air." Nico's voice cut into my thoughts, "Come on, up you go."

I didn't say anything. Instead I let him help me out. As soon as I stood up, I felt lousy. For a brief moment, the world spun around me. I closed my eyes and took a couple deep breathes. Then I made my way out to the porch. It was a beautiful afternoon. Nico told me that it was November 13th. We had arrived back at camp on the night of Halloween. The leaves had all fallen off of the trees. The sun was shining in the valley. A cold wind blew past me, reminding me that it was almost winter. It was a perfect fall day. Almost cruel considering everything that had happened.

I started to walk down the steps of the big house, with Nico staying right next to me. A few times I stumbled, and he would catch my arm. "Take it easy." He warned. "You've been through a lot.

"Understatement." I muttered. But I agreed. I walked close to him as I continued to walk through the camp. He kept a close eye on me still, making sure that I was staying on my feet. It was nice to get fresh air. Other campers turned and stared as I passed, whispering amongst themselves. No one said anything directly to me. I was just fine with that.

Together, we made our way over to the cabins. I noticed Nico would give campers a hard glare if they came to close. Good thing too. I needed my space right now.

"So," I joked as we entered the circle of cabins, "Does Nyx have one yet?"

Nico smiled over at me, "Not yet, but we're trying to get you one built. Especially if you decide to stay here year round. You could stay with the Nike or Hermes caring still…" He shrugged, "But I think you know why that may not be for the best."

"So does the whole camp know? About my sis-Maleah?"

"Well… short story is yes. But really, no one knows exactly what happened. Percy kind of told us what he saw from his point of view, and I mean, obviously we all know that she was the traitor."

"Where is Percy, speaking of? You said he was back, where is he? I need to talk to him." I said, changing the subject.

"He's busy right now, working with Chiron."

"And Annabeth, is she around?"

He smiled at me, "Straight ahead."

Sure enough, Annabeth was walking out of the Athena caring. She looked the same as always, her orange half-blood shirt, clay necklace, owl earrings, her jeans, and her long knife strapped by her side. She had a book tucked under her arms. She looked up and saw me.

"Ebony." Annabeth greeted me. But it didn't sound friendly. Her voice was cold and she didn't seem at all pleased to see me, "Good to see that you're feeling better."

"Annabeth." I said brightly, relieved to see that she was okay. "Is everything okay?"

Her eyes hardened. I suddenly felt uncomfortable. When we were on the quest, Annabeth treated me like a little sister. She was there for me to talk to whenever I needed. And now she seemed cold and distant. "We're all fine now." She paused, as if debating on what to say next.

"Well what's wrong? I heard Percy is back... is he okay?"

"Everyone's fine." She repeated, not meeting my eyes. Her voice was tight.

"You're hiding something, just spit it out will you?"

"You want to hear it?" She finally had the Audacity to meet my eyes, "Everyone is fine, but it's no thanks to you."

"I don't understand." I said slowly, "Are you blaming me for what happened on the quest? It's not my fault you know."

"Actually you know what? It IS your fault." She hissed our.

"What?" I gasped, shocked at the accusation.

"How did you not see it coming? She is your sister after all and you should have been able to see it happening. The entire time. Clues were all around you. But no, you had so much belief in her. Or is it because you have so much darkness in you that you can't tell when someone else is slipping into it? You expect me to forgive you after what happened to Percy? You failed us. All of us." Her gaze dropped again after that last word, as if she was ashamed of what she had just said.

I felt like she had just punched me in the throat. All of a sudden, there was no air in my lungs. "So that's it then?" I got out. "Just like everyone else, you don't trust me anymore."

She looked at me, her grey eyes unreadable, "I'm sorry. I wish I could but, after everything... I just. I can't. I can't forgive you. You had the chance to stop it all. But you couldn't. And now, Percy could have died. And your sister is still out there, plotting..."

"I know." I snapped suddenly, angry that she was blaming me. I blamed myself enough, I didn't need others reminding me, "You don't think I know this? I know I failed. I know that people got hurt because of me. I know that Mel has terrible things planned." I took a deep breath, controlling myself, "But how could I kill my sister?" I said, my voice breaking.

She narrowed her eyes at me, "Just please stay away from me. I don't want to hate you anymore than I already do."

Annabeth turned away from me and started to walk away down the hill. "And what about logic?" I yelled after her. She froze, but didn't turn around, "You are the one who's supposed to look at things logically. Give people second chance. You believe in people."

"I did." She whispered, so I could barely hear her, "And I was. But I can't always be strong. Right now I need to blame someone. And I blame you." Then she continued to walk away from me.

After everything, I had lost yet another friend. I closed my eyes, tears welling up in them. I tried to force them back, count to ten, compose myself. But I couldn't. Instead, I sat down on the hill and let the tears flow.

Nico found me there a little bit later. I was grateful that he didn't say anything. Instead he just sat down next to me, playing with a skeleton mouse he conjured up.

We sat there for a while before he spoke. "I've got a surprise for you."

"Please." I groaned, "No more surprises."

"Trust me." He said reaching out his hand. I grabbed it and he pulled me to my feet, "You'll enjoy this one."

Being weak is super annoying. I could already feel that I was tired from the long walk through camp. I had to lean heavily on Nico as he led me towards the archery range. For a little bit, we stood there and watched the campers. Most of them were pretty crappy at archery. I mean, I wasn't very good at it, so I guess I can't judge too harshly. But man, some of them kept getting shooting arrows straight towards Chiron, who was instructing the class. And standing next to him….

"Percy?" I said suddenly, pushing Nico out of the way and staring open mouthed at the archery range. A guy was standing there, a crooked smile on his face as he watched the session. He had a tattoo on his wrist, and I could see his green eyes even from here. "Percy!" I yelled, sure of it this time.

He somehow heard me. The Son of Poseidon turned to me, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips. I felt a huge wave of relief wash over me. Nico has fold me that Percy was back, but he didn't give any details. I couldn't believe how healthy he looked. Relaxed and happy, not in pain, not disfigured.

Percy said something else to Chiron before walking towards me.

He stopped only a couple feet away from me. His eyes scanned across my face and the ugly scar that now stretched across it. I couldn't read his expression. For some reason, I felt nervous. Did he blame me? My nerves faded in an instant when Percy suddenly stepped forward and pulled me into a hug.

Family. That was the word that popped into my head. He wasn't really a friend, he was acting like an older brother. Filling the void that my sister had left. I buried my head in his shoulder, hugging him tighter. The words weren't coming to me, to let him know how much I appreciated his support. But I tried to convey it through my actions.

"I'm sorry." I finally whispered, blinking back tears. I was furious at myself for crying so much. I wasn't sup[posed to cry. I was supposed to be strong. Keep my emotions under check at all times. But my relief, mixed with my guilt, mixed with the joy of seeing Percy again… It was all too much for my emotions.

"Hey." He stepped back, still holding my shoulders. His sea-green eyes staring straight at me, "Don't you dare blame yourself. It is not your fault. None of us saw it coming. Everyone was betrayed by Maleah."

"Annabeth blames me." I mumbled, looking away.

He sighed and let go of me, "She'll come around. It has been a difficult couple of weeks. We'll get things sorted out, okay?"

"Indeed we will." Chiron had walked over to join our reunion. "There is going to be a meeting to discuss what happened on your quest. We have delayed the meeting for your recovery."

"You haven't talked yet?"

"No." H informed me, "If you need more time, we can delay another day or two, but not much longer. It is very important that we figure out our next steps, and get secured against attacks that may come."

Percy looked over at me, "Are you sure you're okay to talk about things?"

I nodded, ignoring the little voice that was saying " _Of course I'm not fricken okay, I want to go cry for a year and forget all of this happened. The last thing I want to do is talk!"_ But instead I just said, "Let's go get this over with."

Nico stepped over to help me again, but this time I shrugged him off. He didn't comment, just exchanged a look with Percy (which was getting real annoying) and trudged up the hill next to him. I hesitated before following. Percy didn't blame me. Nico didn't blame me. But the rest of the camp? They did not go on a quest with me. They had no reason to trust me. To believe what I was saying. I could see this meeting going very poorly for me.

I summoned my courage. It was now or never. Frankly, I would prefer never. I could probably leave camp now, leave the fight to someone else. But as I started to walk up the hill, a chill ran up my spine. The temperature seemed to drop and the air thickened around me. "You think you and your friends are safe now?" A voice whispered in my ear, freezing me in place. My head started to pound, and I was back in the underworld. Bright amber eyes, a cold smile, that cruel, teasing voice. The scene flashed in front of me. The knife slamming into my shoulder. Her laughter at my scream. Was this what a flashback felt like? Then Mel's voice continued in my ear, "I will hunt you down a million times over if I have to. You will not get in the way of my plans." The paralyzing sensation that had consumed me vanished after the last words were trilled in my ear. My eyes snapped open, relief flooding me as I realized I was still at camp. I wasn't trapped deep below the surface of the earth. My sisters presence faded along with the icy chill. But the message had been received. This was only the beginning.

 _ **Another quick note: I did mention there would be five of these, and I still plan on that! Still looking for a beta reader, especially since I have a job and a horse that keep me super busy. Sorry I didn't have time to edit this story, so it didn't flow as well as it could have, and grammar wasn't 100% there! Also shout out to nmesih for the review! Reviews keep me motivated to continue writing, and they're greatly appreciated, even if you just say something as simple as "I like this" or "this is shit" I will appreciate it no matter what! Thanks for reading this far! Also, these last two chapters are shorter because I'm just wrapping up loose ends! Last chapter will be a Percy chapter!**_


	13. A New Beginning

_**There's going to eventually be more details, I can't answer all the questions in the first of the series! But this is the last chapter, and I'm going to tie up a couple more loose ends. There won't be much of a wait, sometime next week or next weekend I plan on starting the next fic of the series. This is also by far the shortest chapter because it's the last one.**_

* * *

By the way, I'm no longer scared of drowning.

Okay, so before we go into this meeting, i should probably mention how my last two weeks went.

I don't think I could have dreamt of a worse nightmare. Being dragged away by one of my oldest enemies? Terrifying. Leaving my close friend behind when she was bleeding out and close to death? Even worse. Arriving to an abandoned house and finding Luke and Octavian waiting for us? Icing on the fricken cake. Basically I would much rather be drowning in the mud in Alaska.

I fully expected to be tortured, and probably killed when they were done with me. As we twisted through the shadows, I could feel chills running up and down my spine. We were shadow traveling. I didn't know exactly where we were going, I didn't really want to know.

I was dragged out of the darkness and I landed on a tile floor. I took in my surroundings. We seemed to be in someone's house. It was strange going from the underworld, straight to a living room. The house seemed to be abandoned, or maybe it was someone's summer home. We were standing in a dining room. To my left was the kitchen, and to my right was a family room. The couch was very inviting. A nap seemed good right now.

"Luke, Octavian. We need to talk." Mel said briskly. She shoved me forward towards Hyperion, "Have your fun, just don't kill him okay?"

The words had barely registered in my mind before she swept out of the room with the two recently resurrected mortals. And I was left alone with the titan.

He gave me a cold smile. I wanted to defend myself, but I was still chained up. My legs were also chained together now (when did that happen?) and I had no way of reaching Riptide even though it was in my pocket. "This." he said coldly, "Is going to be soooo much fun."

He flicked his hand, and I flew across the room. My body slammed against the wall, and I fell in a disorganized heap onto the ground. Before I was able to recover, I was flying across the room again. This time I crashed into a few chairs, knocking them over. I gasped for air; the wind knocked completely out of me. Then the titan was looming above me. I raised my hands up, but it was no use. Hyperion slammed his fist into my face, again and again. He split the skin above my eye, and on my cheek. At some point, I think my cheekbones cracked, and my lip was also split in multiple places.

He pulled his fist back, aiming for yet another punch. I somehow managed to duck this one. Mistake. He flicked his hand a third time and once more, I flew into the wall. And then the worst thing happened.

He threw a ball of fire at me. Just like what had hit Eddie before she had been knocked unconscious. I braced myself for the pain as the glowing light came closer and closer to me…

It was way worse than i could ever have imagined. I screamed as it hit me in the chest, the fire racing through every vein in my body. I remembered the lava hitting me at St. Helens. But this was worse, so much worse. It didn't start out warm and get hotter every second. It was hot from the beginning, consuming me… More pain, this time on my leg. He was throwing fire at me. I curled into a ball on the ground, my voice going raw as I continued to scream. Gods, it hurt. I had to be dying, surely this was too much for me to handle? In all my life, only one pain and been worse than this. That was when I had jumped in the Styx. And Annabeth had pulled me out…. Annabeth!

My mind instantly cleared. I found her image in my head: the curly blonde hair, the laughter in her grey eyes. The way she kissed me… The way she would punch me in the shoulder when I annoyed her. Annabeth. I had to stay strong for her. I had broken one promise. Never again would I let her down. She was my anchor. I would keep fighting forever to return to her.

The pain continued going in and out, I'm pretty sure I was fading in and out of consciousness. After a little while, I finally heard Maleah's voice, "I think he's had enough." And then my world once again faded to black and I knew no more.

When i woke up, I was in a plain white room, probably used to be a bedroom. No windows, no furniture, just nothing. I lost track of the time. Hours passed by. Maybe a day or two. This was how they were going to drive me crazy. By keeping me in solitary confinement.

Thankfully it didn't last much longer than a few days. Hyperion made another appearance, kicking the crap out of me again. Honestly, at some point doesn't it get boring throwing punches at the same person? He beat me senseless, leaving me in a bloody heap on the floor. And then Mel came in, leaning down to look me in the eyes. I just groaned and closed my eyes. I had no desire to look at her face.

I continued to keep my eyes shut as they picked me up off the ground. They removed my chains, and tied me tightly to a chair. For a few minutes after that, they whispered to each other. It sounded almost as if they were arguing. I tried to make out what they were saying, but I was too far away. Then finally, they left. I was alone, and I dared to peak my eyes open.

I almost laughed out loud. They had left me tied up in the kitchen. What a bunch of idiots. No wonder Ebony was so smart, if Mel was this stupid. I closed my eyes and concentrated, finding the water in the pipes and reaching out to it. I could feel it respond to me, waiting for instruction. But I wasn't going to wait.

Paul had shown me a movie over the summer about a guy taken hostage. He had managed to flip over the chair he was sitting in and break his bonds that way. Maybe that would work in real life. It would also be loud… so I had to plan it at the exact time. If I could break out of my bonds, call for blackjack, and have the water cause some mayhem…. my imprisonment would be very short indeed.

I flipped the chair back, letting out a loud gasp of pain as it splintered beneath my weight. But it worked. I was free. I yanked my hands loose from he mess of rope and wood and turned towards the sink. I clenched my fists, drawing them back towards my chest. The water responded instantly. It shot up, out of the sink, racing towards me. It covered me, healing my wounds, giving me strength.

And now for stage two…. I let out aloud taxi-cab whistle. Then I manipulated the water, making a wall at the entrance to the kitchen. I didn't wait to see if it would hold. Instead, I sprinted outside,desperate to escape.

Blackjack appeared a few minutes later, understanding the emergency. "I gotcha boss!" he said, soaring straight towards me. I didn't even let him land. As soon as he was close enough, I jumped up and wrapped my arms around his neck, swinging my leg over his back. Blackjack shifted under me, helping me get my balance. Then we flew like the wind towards camp.

When we arrived, I went straight to find Annabeth. We cried and hugged and held each other for what seemed like forever. But it didn't last long enough, because I had to ask the question that was on my mind.

"Ebony? Where is she? How long?"

"Percy, she um, well we think she's gonna be okay. Nico can explain later. But she's in a coma right now. We're just waiting for her to wake up." she sighed, "And for your other question, it's November 4th."

"So, how long has she been in a coma for?"

She didn't meet my eyes, "We got back on Halloween."

"I need to see her."

"You can later. You need to rest some too."

"Not until I know she's okay." I said stubbornly.

She didn't answer me, and I took that as my cue to leave. I stood up by myself and went up tot he Big House. But nothing could have prepared me for seeing Eddie laying on the bed. She was still deathly pale, her normal light brown skin turned to ash. Her forehead was stitched up, and her breathing was shallow. And I couldn't do it. After just one minute of standing there, looking at her, I turned and fled from the room.

* * *

The next week and half passed by in a blur. We refused to have a meeting until Ebony was awake, so when she finally woke up, we were all ready to wrap up the quest for good. And hopefully never speak of it again.

We all filed into the big house, gathering around the table. It was the four of us who had gone on the quest, plus all of the head counselors. Many of them took seats as far away from Eddie as possible. Nico sat down next to her, silently daring anyone to say something bad in her direction. Chiron wasted no time once we all got settled, "We're very glad to see you on your feet again Ms Stryke. Can you tell us what happened over the past few weeks?"

For the first time, Eddie looked uncomfortable to be talking in front of everyone. She shifted in her seat, turning her face away. "What do you want to know?" She finally asked.

"Just tell us what happened on the quest." Chiron said gently.

"Everything went wrong when we got to the underworld." She started, "We got to the gates and my sis-Mel- she walked up to them. I thought she was just curious and trying to figure out how they opened but, she was opening them. I don't know how but it was her. And the gates sprang open and two people stepped out."

Nico picked up the story, "It was Luke and Octavian." A few campers gasped and others looked shocked, but Nico spoke over all of them, "Then an earthquake came through and Maleah and Ebony ran deeper into the underworld, towards Tartarus."

Annabeth chimed into the story, "We were about to fight Luke and Octavian, hopefully shove them back into the gates, but that was when I figured out the true meaning of the prophecy."

I nodded, recognizing that it was my turn to pick up the story, "Annabeth told me to go, I knew at this point that Maleah was the traitor. I caught up to them and tried to convince Eddie but..." I paused, looking at her. She wouldn't meet my eyes, "But Mel hit me over the head with a rock and knocked me out."

"We fought." Ebony said dryly. And she beat me. I was hurt pretty bad, and my," Eddie gulped hard, "She well, managed to free a titan from Tartarus. Then I got thrown across the ground and it was my turn to be unconscious."

"This whole time, Annabeth and I were still fighting with Octavian and Luke. They finally turned and ran away from the underworld and we decided not to pursue them."

"We had to help Percy." Annabeth agreed.

"Anyway," It was once again my turn to pick up the tale, "I bargained with them. Convinced them to take me and leave Eddie behind. And that was that. They came back to camp together."

Eddie looked up, her piercing green eyes glaring into mine, "And what of your story?" She said calmly.

Everyone looked back at me. It was my turn to be uncomfortable, "Well... they didn't do anything. Locked me up in an isolated room. Didn't feed me. Didn't give me any water. Just kept me tied up and locked up. After three days, they gave me enough water to keep me alive. But they weren't trying that hard. I don't know what they wanted from me, or if they wanted anything. I caused a small earthquake, big enough to cause a large crack to run through the door. I busted out and called for blackjack. And we flew home together.

Eddie narrowed her eyes, I could tell she wasn't fooled. But now wasn't the time. Thankfully, Chiron agreed with me.

"We must keep an eye out for the dark powers that are now roaming free." He said thoughtfully, "But for now, I believe we all need to rest, and some of us need return to school. This meeting is adjourned."

Eddie was the first one to leave. She got slowly to her feet and walked out the door. She was still little unsteady. Nico gave me a worried look.

"Don't worry." said out loud. "I'll go talk to her."

He nodded in a agreement. I jumped to my feet and raced out of the room after her.

"Hey, Eddie! Wait up." I called. She stopped and waiting for me, awkwardly shuffling her foot over the ground.

I jogged the last few steps. She didn't say anything, just continued to walk once I caught up. I fell in pace beside her, trying to decide what I wanted to say.

"You don't have to do this you know." she said tersely, breaking the silence a few minutes later.

"Do what?"

"Be nice to me." she said it so simply, "I mean, if you don't trust me I understand. don't want you to put in an effort for someone like me. I would rather if I was just left alone instead of have people be fake around me."

"Fake?" I stopped and grabbed her shoulder. She turned and looked at me. "You think this is pretend?" I asked.

She met my eyes, "Why should you trust me? Or care of me? Or even talk to me. After everything."

"It's not fake." I said, putting as much emphasis into those words as I possibly could, "It never was. You have been like a sister to me the past few weeks. That doesn't stop when we get home. That doesn't stop because you have a family member who went down a and path. That doesn't sop because you blame yourself for thing that were out of your control." I paused, making sure she was still listening, "I don't care if everyone in this world hates you. I still accept you, and I always will. I care for what happens to you. I want to be there for you. Even if people hate me for it. That doesn't matter. It's the right thing to do, and you deserve it."

Her green eyes were unreadable. She could have been angry, joyful, or nonchalant, and I would never know. "Thanks Percy." she finally said, "But it's really okay. Don't worry to much about me. I'm fine by myself. I'm fine overall. There's really no need to worry about me."

"Ebony. Come on. I'm not stupid. Tell me truth. Are you okay?"

She glared at me that stubborn expression still on her face. But I wasn't going to back down. Not this time.

"Of course I'm okay." she finally snapped out, anger flashing across her face.

"Yeah, right." I said sarcastically, "You're talking to someone who has quite literally seen it all. All the monsters, all the deaths, all the betrayals. I know some wounds take longer to heal than others."

She finally dropped her challenging gaze. She looked down at her feet, and I could tell that she was barely holding it together, "You're going to be just fine." I reassured her. I put my hands on her shoulders, gently asking her to look at me, "I'm going to help you. And we're going to get through this."

"How?" her voice cracked a little bit, breaking my heart, "I have no home. No family. I just, I'm lost. And I don't know what to do. Mel was my home. She was my family. And now that's gone. What do I do?"

"You could live with me." I blurted out.

A ton of emotions flashed across her face. Surprise, followed by fear, then relief. "Do you really mean that? I mean, it's probably best for me to just stay here. Train."

I was just as surprised as her. I wasn't planning on offering her a home. But it just made sense. I always wanted a sibling. Sure, i had Tyson. But full sibling? "Of course I mean it." I said, "My dad works at a high school in New York, well not Poseidon dad, like my adopted dad, his name's Paul, you know just a regular mortal guy who married my mom and such…"

She laughed, "Trust me Percy, i get it."

I could feel my cheeks grow red in embarrassment, "Well anyway, you can go there and pick up on your sophomore year. And my mom would love to have another kid to look after. Especially since I'm technically an adult now, you know? I can call her right now, I mean she's going to say yes. But I just need to know if you want to or not? It's completely your choice."

A smile creeped across her face, reminding me that as old and mature as she was, she was still just a child. Just turned twelve. Everybody should have change at a family, "I guess I'll pack my stuff then." she said, her smile growing, "You'll really let me live with you?"

"Of course! Go get your stuff, I have my car here and I can drive you to my home. You'll love it."

She did something that completely surprised me. For the second time that day, i got a hug from her. "Thank you thank you thank you!" she cried enthusiastically.

Later that afternoon, I called my mom. Tyson had also replaced the saltwater spring in my room after I decided to kill it one night (long story). On a chilly fall day, the hot mist rising from he pool created a very strong connection. My call went through and I saw my mom and Paul sitting at the table, working on one of her novels.

"PERCY!" she cried when she saw me, beaming at me through the mist. "Oh thank goodness. I know you gave me a phone call last week, but I haven't seen your face since you left for camp. I'm so glad to see you're all right!"

"I missed you too mom." I said, a grin appearing on my face as well.

"Tell me everything." she pressed.

And so I did. I summarized the quest, a little bit of my imprisonment (with a ton of sugar coating) and then I brought up Ebony. And I told her about my offer. And bringing her to a new home. And letting her be part of our family. I started to ramble on, about how important I thought it was, how much she needed a good home, but my mom stopped me.

"Oh Percy, of course! She can live with us for as long as she needs to."

I sighed in relief, "Thank you so much."

My mom smiled proudly at me, "I just have one question. Why did you offer to let her live with us?"

I turned around and looked out the window. Eddie was standing with shade, petting her and talking to her gently. I saw other campers walk by, giving them a wide berth. She had a small suitcase packed at her feet. For a moment I wondering how Shade had gotten in the camp. But I guess if she was made of shadow then she probably just dropped out of a tree or something.

I continued to watch her. "A lot of reasons." I answered my mom, "But mainly because I can't give her a normal life. Especially not after everything that has happened. But I can help her have a good family."

My mom smiled bigger and leaned into Paul. He wrapped his arm around her and kissed her on the cheek, "We can't wait to meet her."

"I'll see you soon mom." I said. She nodded and swiped her hand through the rainbow, dissolving our connection.

I turned and looked at my sister, who was now resting on Shade's back, her eyes closed. She looked so peaceful. But I could see, even from here, the scar that stretched across her face. I was furious at myself that I wasn't able to help her. It wasn't going to be easy. After everything... but I was determined to be there for her. "Not a normal life." I repeated, "But I can help make it a good one."


End file.
